Newly elected National Commander Dan K. Wiley pledges to continue highlighting Legion’s veteran suicide prevention mission, calls for teamwork among American Legion Family.
Upon being elected 2025-2026 American Legion National Commander on Aug. 28, Kansas Legionnaire Dan K. Wiley took the stage at the organization’s 106th National Convention and thanked all of those who helped him get to this day.
And then he told a story.
It was the story of a young attorney in Wiley’s hometown who, due to various circumstances, was going through a difficult time – one he thought was just physical.
When the attorney went to his doctor for some cold medicine, the doctor noticed a difference in his patient and began asking questions: “Do you value your work? Do others value your work? Do you think you are doing good work?”
Puzzled, the attorney said he just wanted his cold prescription, but the doctor didn’t let it go. He asked the attorney if he was considering self-harm and offered to provide some medication to address that.
After a week, the attorney admitted he could not think clearly, explaining, “It’s like I’m driving a car, and it is foggy, and I cannot get the defroster to work. I can stay on task and get things done, but I can’t see ahead.” He then agreed to take the prescription for 30 days, which improved his condition considerably. He was then advised to continue to take the prescription for one year.
But a few months later, the attorney decided to apply for a vacant judgeship – but then realized that the application called for disclosing current medications taken, but not past medications.
“Well, you can see this train wreck coming,” Wiley said. “It’s the most attorney thing ever: ‘I’m going to stop taking the medication, and then when I sign that form in 30 days, I don’t have to disclose it.’
“It’s the stigma, right? It’s the stigma of mental health that we’re combating. Trying to let people know it’s OK not to be OK.”
The attorney called his doctor to inform him he was going to stop taking the medication. But the doctor wasn’t hearing it, telling the attorney that those reviewing the application would judge the attorney based on his ability and character, and would see it as a positive as someone helping himself.
Then the doctor explained that roughly 20 percent of the population will have a depressive episode in their life. “You are not alone,” said the doctor.
The attorney agreed, continued to take the medication and ended up becoming a state court judge. But that career now has come to end. Kansas Circuit Court Judge Dan K. Wiley is now American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley.
“That’s why the Be the One mission is important to me. It’s personal,” Wiley told convention delegates. “I can’t tell you that Dr. Richard Whitlow saved my life. I can tell you he made a difference in my life. He made it better.”
Continuing Be the One, the Legion’s suicide prevention program, is one of Wiley’s priorities for the upcoming. The others are his slogan “Better Together”, The American Legion legislative agenda; the Veterans and Children Foundation; celebrating America’s 250th birthday; and what he said are the three Cs: communication, community and camaraderie.
A U.S. Air Force veteran and cattleman, Wiley is a paid-up-for-life member of Byron H. Mehl American Legion Post 23 in Leavenworth and is a past department commander of the Kansas American Legion. He also served as Kansas’ National Executive Committeeman.
He spent Thursday’s remarks focusing on Be the One and “Better Together.” “Be the One is a personal and passionate mission for me,” Wiley said. “Taking care of one another is what we do. It’s who we are.”
Wiley’s theme of “Better Together” focuses on the American Legion Family. “I am a big believer in the American Legion Family,” he said. “Those posts that are successful are the ones that are inclusive and not exclusive. They’re the ones that operate in unity with the units, squadrons, and chapters. Those are the successful posts: the ones that care about the mission and helping each other. Taking care of one another.
“But better together has an even deeper meaning. We use phrases like ‘I got your 6’ and ‘I got your back’. Those are not just nice sayings. It’s what we were trained to do when we served. It’s human nature. It’s who we are.”
To illustrate his point, Wiley told how in December 2023 he received a phone call from American Legion Past National Commander Jake Comer, who had received an email from a disgruntled former court litigant.
“My first reaction was that I’m not too worried about someone attacking me. I’m used to it as a judge,” Wiley said. “But when you start bothering my friends it upsets me. And I was mad.”
Wiley said he called Comer back, and that the past national commander could tell quickly Wiley was upset. “About 10 seconds into the conversation … he said ‘Dan, we had that forwarded to you for your situational awareness. We’re not concerned about you. We know who you are,’” Wiley said. “And then the four words that mattered the most. He said, ‘We got your back.’ That’s all I needed to hear. Powerful words in that moment.”
Wiley plans to pay that forward to the men and women he will lead over the next 12 months. “This next year as your national commander, I got your back,” he said. “The American Legion has had your back since 1919. The American Legion had your back in the 1920s when we advocated for the creation of the Veterans Bureau, which would eventually become Veterans Affairs. The American Legion had your back in 1944 when we advocated the GI Bill of Rights. The American Legion had your back in 1983 when we alone when we funded a study on the disastrous effects of Agent Orange, which culminated with Congress passing the Agent Orange Act in 1991.
“And most recently, The American Legion had your back with the passage of the PACT Act. The American Legion had your back yesterday. The American Legion has your back today. And The American Legion will have your back tomorrow. As long as America exists, and as long as there are veterans, there will be an American Legion, and we will have your back.”
Additional national officers elected or appointed Thursday during the national convention:
· National Vice Commander Jan D. “JD” Larson, Disney-Bell Post 66 in Bowie, Md.
· National Vice Commander Stephen T. Weismann, Sgt. Donnie E. Horton American Legion Post 254 in Collinwood, Tenn.
· National Vice Commander Benjamin E. (Ben) Headen, American Legion Roy Fourr Post 24 in Tombstone, Ariz.
· National Vice Commander Jerry Landkamer, American Legion Post 16 in Norfolk, Neb.
· National Vice Commander Ron LaRose, American Legion Post 19 in Bristol, Vt.
· National Chaplain Michael Pollitt, American Legion Post 22 in Lebanon, N.H.
· National Sergeant-at-Arms Gaylord K. Sanneman, American Legion Post 253 in Maquette, Kan.,
· National Historian David W. Lockhart, Horace D. Washburn American Legion Post 533 in Corinth, N.Y.
- Convention