Eligibility:
To be eligible for membership in AMVETS, you must have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the National Guard and Reserves, after 15 September 1940. Additionally, unless still serving, your discharge must have been under honorable conditions. If you served as an American citizen in the armed forces of an allied nation, under honorable conditions, between 15 September 1940 and 8 May 1975, you are also eligible, as are wartime members of the Merchant Marine. Proof of eligibility can take the form of a DD-214, an honorable discharge certificate or other appropriate document. As a rule of thumb, annual dues are $30, but this amount may vary from state to state or post to post. Life member dues are a minimum of $180 as of 1/1/2010.These dues fund, in part, the programs, services and representation AMVETS provides.
Only eight members are required in order to start an AMVETS post.
For additional information see the following link: http://www.amvets.org/membership/eligibility_and_dues.html.
Census Figures
Virginia's AMVETS Have A Large Recruiting Pool
Governor McDonnell noted in January at least 820,000 veterans and over 200,000 active duty personnel living in the Commonwealth reflecting a potential AMVETS recruiting pool of over one million eligible persons! These numbers are based on the September 2010 VA figures and change periodically. Census figures show 92, 000 women veterans among the total. A break down by conflict periods reflect the following:
Gulf War 1 and 2 Era: 301, 600
Vietnam War Era: 258, 200
Korea War Era: 63, 900
WWII Era: 45,900
Peacetime/Cold War Era: 200,000
What is not reflected are the veterans who served in Grenada, Panama, Beirut or other Cold War-era expeditionary campaigns.
Virginia veterans by age group are as follows:
Age Population Percent of Veterans:
18-34 years 90,549 12.1%
35-54 years 253,688 33.9%
55-64 years 174,364 23.3%
65-74 years 115,993 15.5%
75+ years 113,748 15.2%
Identifying Your Community's Recruiting Pool
The 2009 Census estimate provides snapshots of every community. Included in this snapshot is a break of veterans in one's community and this reflects you AMVETS recruiting pool.
Case Study 1 for Establishing a Post:
The Census Factsheet for Russell County, VA indicates there are 1,827 veterans in that county reflecting over 7% of the total population. A Post organizer can go to the sidebar Factfinder, scroll down on 'People' to the 'Veterans' menu and get a greater breakdown of potential recruits. For example, in Russell County, 6.6% of the total vets are from Gulf War I (about 120 people) while 1.6%, or roughly 29 vets, have post-9/11 service. The Vietnam era vets account for 34.7% of the total for 633 potential recruits.
To determine Cold War veterans, one would have to calculate the total number of veterans per major conflict period and subtract that from the total of 1,827. Again using Russell County, we find about 171 Korean War and 297 World War II veterans. When combined with the previous numbers, there are 1,250 veterans from major wartime periods. Subtracting this from the 1,827, one can infer there are 577 Cold War veterans probably not affiliated with any veterans’ organization.
In this case, as there is no AMVETS Post in Russell County. An organizer can make an assessment on how to publicize the chartering of a new AMVETS Post and target the total pool of veterans, many of whom will be unaffiliated with any other organization.
Case Study 2 for Building membership:
A snapshot of Henry County and Martinsville, VA reflect over 6,200 veterans living in those communities. This is Collinsville Post 35's service area. While it is unrealistic to expect any Post to recruit all the veterans in one's community (due to competitions, competing interests, etc.) a periodic review of the census numbers will allow Posts or those wishing to start a post to tailor its public relations and recruiting activities.
Using Martinsville-Henry County again as an example, we find over 1,600 veterans not included in the major wartime periods. Most likely, these are primarily Cold War veterans, ineligible for any other veterans’ organization and ripe for AMVETS membership. To capture these veterans, a news release was recently issued where the commander identified Cold War veterans’ eligibility and welcoming them to Post 35. The release was published in the local paper. New member recruiting is improving at Post 35, perhaps as a result of greater public awareness of the Post's existence and community outreach to unaffiliated veterans.
Also of interest for this community are over 400 veterans from the Gulf War I period and just over 300 from the post-9/11 period. These new, younger veterans are also ripe for outreach activities and Post 35 has taken active efforts to reach out to these groups.
Through a Census analysis, one can identify its target audience and tailor outreach efforts. In the case of Martinsville-Henry County, three recruiting pools have been identified, each of which will respond to different public relations themes: Cold War vets, Gulf War I and Gulf War II. (As an example, the 2011 20th anniversary of DESERT STORM is a perfect opportunity for recruiting to Gulf War I veterans.)
Develop a Public Relations Plan and Execute:
Public relations is critical to the development and growth of any AMVETS Post. Positive public relations will result from every Post and every member focusing on AMVETS core mission areas and reporting how those are working in one's local community.
The AMVETS Post public relations officer needs to be able to write news releases that can be submitted to local newspapers and radio stations. Getting coverage in rural areas may be easier where AMVETS members may know local publishers, editors and radio station owners however even cities have small area newspapers that are circulated to cover neighborhood news. All printed publications will have limitations on the amount of space they can allot to any news story. With that in mind, all news releases should be short, no more than one page, and well written with the basic Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of any article. (See AMVETS National's website and the Pressroom tab for further guidance.)
Once the PRO or Post organizer has identified public information venues, it is just a matter of writing and submitting news releases. During this period, try to build a rapport with local editors, reporters and owners. This rapport may result in greater coverage during special events.
Veteran Populations
Veteran Populations can be obtained from the Veterans Administration website: http://www.va.gov/vetdata/Veteran_Population.asp.
The U.S. Census figures for 2000 break the population down by period of service: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF4_PCT068&prodType=table.