Detachment leaders talk about their success in setting new record membership numbers in 2025.
If there’s one key to success in growing membership in the Sons of The American Legion, it’s communication.
“If there’s one thing I can suggest that aids in membership growth, it’s communicate, communicate, communicate,” said Detachment of South Carolina Adjutant Danny Rollins.
His response echoed the sentiments of Detachment of South Dakota Commander Wyatt Reis, who said “communication is key” in his detachment’s growth.
South Carolina and South Dakota were among the 25 detachments who ended 2025 with new highs in SAL membership, part of a year in which the SAL as a whole set a new membership record for the third consecutive year. There were 404,941 members of the SAL at the end of 2025.
The Detachment of South Carolina finished 2025 with 1,886 members, a 10% increase over 2024 and a 25.6% increase since 2022.
“In the past four or five years, we’ve really gotten together and made an emphasis to contact all the squadrons, their commanders and their adjutants, and explain what’s going on, tell them where we’re going, and it has helped them advertise their programs,” said Rollins, who served as detachment commander from 2021-23. “It’s brought people in; the Sons of The American Legion, their name is getting out there. And people are coming to us to ask us about joining.”
Likewise with the Detachment of South Dakota, where Reis said “it’s been a team effort” to grow membership.
“All of our detachment officers have just been really gung-ho about growing the Sons in South Dakota,” Reis said. “There’s been a lot of excitement as we’ve gotten the word out. A lot of it’s just going up to people and just asking the question, ‘Are you interested in being a Sons member?’ and explaining to them the reason and the ‘why’ you should be. People just are super receptive to it and it keeps snowballing; they’re telling their friends and buddies.”
The Detachment of South Dakota finished 2025 with 2,284 members, a 15.9% increase over 2024 — second in growth only to the Detachment of Oklahoma (19.2%) among detachments setting membership records last year.
Both Reis and Rollins emphasized the importance of squadrons being active in their communities as another way to help membership growth.
“Absolutely the communities are the biggest part of this,” Reis said. “Some of the things that we like to do … we’ll go into the schools and pay some delinquent lunch accounts, we’re doing flag education in the schools, getting our youth involved in the communities with getting them involved in the honor guards and color guards. … Giving them that education on why you have to give the flag that respect. Our communities across the state have just been excellent in supporting all our squadrons.”
Rollins said, “Community outreach is vitally important to each squadron. Getting involved with the community and getting information out on who we are and that we are here to support all veterans and their families as well as the community.”
But, Reis noted, it’s OK that not every SAL member is “gung-ho.”
“We would like everyone to be 100 percent active, but that’s not how it works,” Reis said. “We have three (types of) members in the Sons of The American Legion: we have the gung-ho, live-breathe-eat-sleep; we have the members that make a meeting here and there; and we have the members, they have a young family, work just doesn’t associate with our meeting times, or they may not live close to the squadron … but all three of those are equally important to the common cause of the Sons of The American Legion.
“You being a member is huge.”
Ultimately, it’s the SAL’s support of veterans that matters most.
Over the past few years, Rollins and the detachment commander have attended American Legion district meetings where they’ve been able to remind posts about the benefits of having an SAL squadron.
“We can expand on that (information for posts that do have squadrons),” Rollins said.
“This isn’t about you as a member. You’re honoring your veteran’s service. Selfless service; you have to keep that in the back of your mind,” Reis said.
“When you wear that blue cap, that’s your veteran’s blue cap that you’re wearing.”
- Sons