‘Deniers,’ appeals modernization, strong VA dominate Commander’s Call

In his opening remarks at The American Legion's 57th annual Washington Conference, American Legion National Commander Charles E. Schmidt took on the deniers.

“These are people – some in the media, some in Congress, and some protesting on college campuses and in our streets – who deny that our flag has any special significance,” Schmidt said during Tuesday morning’s Commander’s Call. “It’s just a piece of cloth, they say. It’s a piece of cloth all right! It’s also the fabric of our nation."

Schmidt said that the deniers are keeping Congress from holding hearings, voting on the amendment and allowing state legislatures to enshrine the Flag Protection Amendment into the Constitution. “These people deny that flag desecration is a problem. It hardly ever occurs they say. Yet a quick Google search will reveal thousands of images of people doing just that.”

Schmidt vowed that the Legion would continue its fight to protect Old Glory. “These deniers say Congress has more important issues to address and that the Flag Protection Amendment issue is a waste of time. I say, pass the amendment and we won’t bother you with it again. Otherwise, you will keep hearing from us.”

The Flag Protection Amendment certainly wasn’t the only item on The American Legion’s legislative agenda, as Schmidt explained the organization’s position on veteran’s choice regarding health care and the Legion’s strong support for a fully-functioning Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We are not against the concept of health care choices for veterans. Realistically, not all veterans would find it convenient to use VA. Veterans in my hometown of Hines, Oregon, for instance, must travel more than 200 miles to find the nearest VA hospital. Although there needs to be a well-managed partnership with private providers to serve veterans in remote areas, we are against the current mess that is called the Choice Program,” he said. “Delays, non-reimbursement for services, and bureaucratic entanglements are constant experiences for many who attempted to use this program.”

Schmidt, who introduced VA Secretary David Shulkin to the more than 1,000 Legion Family members at the Commander’s Call, praised the direction that VA seems to be headed. “We see a lot of positive signs coming from Washington. The new VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin seems committed to making VA better than ever before. This isn’t to say that there aren’t some serious problems to address. But he does agree that it is a system worth saving.”

He also renewed the call for Congress to pass legislation that would modernize the process for appealing veterans’ disability claims. “According to VA’s own 2016 numbers, nearly half a million appeals claims were waiting to be finally adjudicated. More than 80,000 claims were waiting for greater than 125 days. The American Legion finds this completely unacceptable.”

Schmidt pointed out that if left unchanged by 2027, veterans will have to wait an average of 10 years to hear a decision on their appeals. While modernization passed the House in the last Congress, it died in the Senate without a vote. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., introduced H.R. 457 in the current Congress. The bill, Schmidt said, would simplify and speed up the process and add transparency.

While supporting a strong VA, Schmidt paraphrased President Trump. “We think the VA is already pretty good, but as the president would say, 'Let’s make it great again!'"

As he presented a Distinguished Public Service Award to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Schmidt recalled a visit he made to Vietnam last November. “I visited the former home of this United States senator. I hope you don’t consider me rude for saying that it was dank and depressing. It was the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton. And it is not a nice hotel like this.”

An area where McCain, who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and The American Legion have a shared interest is the need for a strong national defense. “The American Legion welcomes President Trump’s promise to rebuild our military. More than half of all Marine Corps aircraft were unflyable this past December. Only three of the U.S. Army’s 58 total brigade combat teams are considered ready for combat. The Air Force, the branch where I made a career, has a total of about 5,500 aircraft. The average aircraft age is 27 – older than many of the pilots that are flying them,” Schmidt said, pointing out that the Air Force had 8,600 aircraft in the early 1990s, calling it “a much larger force in a much safer world.” He called for Congress to “fully fund “the Department of Defense rather than operate on unsustainable continuing resolutions.

He also cited terrorist attacks in France, Germany, Belgium and Turkey, and called on the judiciary to empower the president to control who is allowed into the country. “The courts need to recognize that it is the president who has the ultimate and constitutionally-mandated responsibility to keep us safe. The bottom line is that we need to take a very hard look at our immigration and entry policies.”

Following Schmidt’s remarks, hundreds of Legionnaires visited their congressional delegations to encourage them to pass legislation called for in The American Legion’s national resolutions.