What is your why?

The 2020 National American Legion College class was held last month in Indianapolis after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on during the week-long session, Past National Commander and Legion College Chancellor Dave Rehbein asked the students what their why was for joining and staying in The American Legion. 

“It’s that why that keeps you as a member,” Rehbein said. “It’s not what you do … it’s why you do it.”

Joseph Schmidt passed his grandfather’s American Legion cap every day growing up as it laid in his parents four season front porch. He never knew his grandfather, as he had passed before Schmidt was born. In 2012, Schmidt was injured while deployed to Afghanistan and left service two years later. “But my service wasn’t done yet, I didn’t know what else to do,” said Schmidt, a U.S. Army veteran and member of Post 209 in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I figured if The American Legion was good enough for (my grandfather), it was probably good enough for me. I walked into a Legion post, signed up and found my place of service where I can continue to serve my community … serve veterans and soldiers.” 

“To this day I thank my father for just leaving my grandfather’s (American Legion) cap out there to define my place here in The American Legion,” Schmidt added.

Randy Olson’s cousin was shot and injured during a deployment to Afghanistan. “I thought what can I do for him? He has little to none (VA) disability rating since he didn’t lose a limb. I am going to fight for this veteran,” said Olson, a member of American Legion Post 82 in Winnebago, Minn. “One of my whys is that I want to be the one that makes a difference. It gives me more of a drive every day to keep doing more for veterans.”

For Brenda Hokenson of American Legion Post 6 in Moscow, Idaho, her why is “giving back. How can as a veteran I assist other veterans, and this (membership in The American Legion) has given me that chance to help. It’s given me a home, a chance to help others and branch out into the community more.”

After listening to several Legion College students share their why, Rehbein said what he heard, and expected to hear, is that “your why is connected very strongly to your emotional attachment to the organization.” Then he laid out a challenge to them.

“Our challenge is to help the younger folks that we’re recruiting into the organization to understand and develop that same kind of emotional attachment to The American Legion,” he said. “And that’s a challenge that we all have to handle individually because every person we approach is an individual. We won’t know what their why is until they find out what it is.”

I ask you, what is your why? Share your why of joining and staying in The American Legion the next time you are speaking to a veteran about why they should join our great organization.