Department of Alabama

Convention 08: Video of New Commander-In-Chief

Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 04:10 AM

by alabama

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 21,008--America’s largest organization of combat veterans has elected a Vietnam War veteran to head the 1.6 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

Glen Gardner, a resident of Round Rock, Texas, was elected national commander August 21 during the VFW’s national convention, held August 16-21 in Orlando, Fla. Gardner is the fourth Texan to head the 109-year-old veterans’ service organization.

Read more here or watch the video below.

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About this Site and Network

Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 12:46 AM

by alabama

Welcome to Departments of the Veterans of Foreign Wars' VFW WebCOM Network. This Network is comprised of close to 10,000 pre-built, established sites for each of the 54 state and international Departments, their Districts and all 8,500 VFW Posts.

In support of the Network, we have added Department toolbars, a video-sharing platform, instant WebCHAT, a Membership Forum and pre-built 31,000 VFW Department-specific Officer e-mail accounts which are transferable to the next person filling the position. E-commerce storefronts for each post, online calendars, online forms and much more are in the works.

Each Department, District and Post now has an integrated internal and external communications system at their disposal for consideration of universal deployment in support of existing and planned communication protocols.

All identified product and services are provided at zero cost to the organization with the understanding that costs are to be covered through a revenue sharing agreements through the Departments. The organization retains 100% control of all branding, 100% editorial control of your message on all levels of the Network and final approval authority on all sonsorship and e-commerce opportunities. If the Network should fail to generate enough revenue to cover our service and product-provider partners' cost of doing business, there is no cost liability to organization.

The Network has not been formally recognized by the National level of the organization at this time but is being aggressively rolled out through the eight VFW Departments of North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Alabama, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Several other Departments are in various stages of consideration and implementation.

The network provides the organization the ability to push a button and broadcast, or syndicate, the same piece of information, whether it’s text, pictures, video or audio, across every site. Departments also have the ability to push a button and accomplish the same thing across just the District and Post sites within their Department. Most importantly it enables a VFW Post or District to directly manage and publish information to the Internet for their local community and their organization as a whole.

Over 5 years in the making and built with the oversight and to the specifications of VFW Department and Post leadership and membership, its objectives are to foster:

• More efficient organizational communication to your members and potential members.
• More efficient organizational communication to your communities.
• More efficient organizational communication to your legislators.
• Generate revenue and resources for the organization.
  

While you are here take a moment to take a closer look at how you can support these efforts.

1) Do you have a website or a weblog that you could add a link to a local VFW or State site? Do you have a few minutes to write about us and let people know what we are doing?

You can find a list of the 54 VFW Departments here:
http://vfwwebcom.org/departments

You can find a local VFW Post close to you here:
http://vfwwebcom.org/postdirectory

2) If you are a VFW Member or Supporter, you can download your Department toolbar. The toolbar has lots of neat features; all the RSS (syndication) feeds for every site in the Network run through them, keeping you instantly connected to all the information moving through the Network.

You can go here to download your toolbar:
http://vfwwebcom.org/toolbars/

3) If you are a VFW Member or Supporter, you can join the conversations in the VFW Membership Forum and instant WebCHAT. There’s lots of good information and opportunities to meet new friends there.

You can go to the Forum here:
http://www.vfwwebcom.org/forum

4) If you are a VFW Member or Supporter, you can view and start sharing videos at VFW WebCOM Video Network.

You can check out the videos here:
http://video.vfwwebcom.org/

5) If you are a VFW Member or Supporter, do you know of a business that may be interested in supporting your local VFW Posts or Department by sponsoring their site? Prices start at $2.00 a day for one site and scale from there with opportunities to Sponsor all sites in a Department. (At this time advertising and e-commerce opportunities are only available for the eight aforementioned Departments.)

You can go here to browse sponsorship opportunities:
http://www.admemex.com/vfwwebcom/

The invitation is open for all Posts and Districts to claim their VFW WebCOM Network site. If your Post or District already has a web presence this would be a great way to expand it. If your Post or District does not have a web presence this is a no cost way for you to establish one and start sharing with the world what your Post does in the community and Organization and if your Post is in a Departmental Partner Network you could even generate revenue with it...up to and even beyond $3,000.00 per year.

Go here to test drive how easy it is to manage. It's our Demo site, it works the same way yours would:
http://vfwwebcom.org/Demo/

As you can see, there's plenty to see and do on the VFW WebCOM Network with more still to come. We thank you for stopping by and invite you back regularly to support and stay connected with your Veterans of Foreign Wars.

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Reminder: Posts Need to File IRS Income Statement

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 10:55 PM

by alabama

(Modified for general release from information posted on VFW North Carolina.)

The U S Internal Revenue Service (IRS) now requires, under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, that all tax-exempt organizations file income statements each year .

1- If your post earns over $25,000 in gross income during your fiscal year, you must file an IRS Form 990 (which you should already have been doing, anyway!). Keep the same fiscal year you have been using in the past, be it the calendar year, the VFW accounting year (1 July-30 June) or the Department's fiscal year (1 June-31 May).

2 - If your post earns $25,000 or less each year, and you have access to the Internet, go to www.epostcard.form990.org/default.asp where you will find instructions on how to login and file your own post Form 990N Electronic Postcard. You may use whatever fiscal year you want, but for simplicity purposes, we suggest 1 July-31 June, because 1 July is the date that you transfer your Post Dues Reserve each year to the Post General Fund, and that will remind you to file. The IRS Internet site will not let you file the Form 990N until after the end of your fiscal year.

3 - If your post earns $25,000 or less each year and you do not have access to the Internet, contact your District or Department to determine the proper procedure. There is no paper form that you can file with the IRS. If you do not file a Form 990 or 990N each year, your post will lose its tax-exempt status!!!

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Convention 08: Thank You Troops

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 03:23 PM

by alabama

During the recent National VFW Convention, UAW and GM offered convention attendees a chance to thank our troops:

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WWII Ground Combat Infantrymen Eligible for Bronze Star Medal

Monday, August 25, 2008 at 05:23 PM

by alabama

"Infantrymen who served in ground combat during World
War II between December 7, 1941 and September 2, 1945, are eligible to
apply for a Bronze Star Medal (BSM), according to the U.S. Army Human
Resources Command. Approval is virtually guaranteed for those recipients
of the Combat Infantryman's Badge (CIB) or the Combat Medic's Badge
(CMB). Army regulations that govern this award may be found in AR
600-8-22, Military Awards.

Next of kin may apply for the posthumous award(s). If the veteran has
previously received a BSM during combat for a specific act of bravery,
he or his next of kin is still eligible to apply for a BSM."

Find out more here

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VA News - Week of August 18, 2008

Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 06:11 PM

by alabama

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Convention 08: Patriotic Rally Parade

Friday, August 22, 2008 at 04:43 PM

by alabama

The following is raw, unedited video from the 109th VFW Convention Patriotic Rally Parade.

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