"We are in the midst of a crisis. The Department of Veterans Affairs health-care system is failing to meet the need of veterans nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of sick or disabled veterans are waiting for initial primary-care appointments with VA. Among them are thousands whose medical conditions are directly related to their military service.

The American Legion is responding to this crisis with a bold new initiative, the ‘I Am Not A Number’ campaign. Our job is to remind Congress and VA that each number in the backlog represents an individual veteran waiting for health care.

This is urgent. Collecting these surveys is our highest priority. I want to deliver the testimonials to lawmakers on Capitol Hill during the Washington Conference in March. Several individual stories will be published in the May issue of The American Legion Magazine, as well."

Every Post in the Department should have received a copy of the "I Am Not A Number" campaign package from National Headquarters. Included in the package were a campaign booklet, which includes the survey form. Survey forms may be reproduced locally as required.

If you are called upon to help a veteran obtain or fill out a survey form, do so without delay. Local service officers should double-check responses, and confirm that the respondent is indeed enrolled in the VA system, that they have been forced to wait for care and that their testimonials are factual.

The integrity of this project depends on honest answers. The impact depends upon the number of respondents. Let’s all ensure that the Legionnaires of South Dakota do our fair share in helping Commander Conley deliver this message to Congress and the VA.

National Commander Ronald F. Conley of Pennsylvania has appointed two additional South Dakota Legionnaires to positions on national American Legion committees and commissions according to National Executive Committeeman Paul Evenson of Renner.

The appointments are:

Eugene Schumacher of Aberdeen has been appointed as a member of the National Employment Committee through the end of the annual fall meetings in October 2004.

William "Bill" Dolan of Beresford has been appointed as a member of the National Public Relations Commission through the end of the annual fall meetings in October 2004.

Brandon, Geddes and Dell Rapids won Legion-U.S. Flag desk sets for Post membership achievement based upon the Veterans Day target date. Those Posts are cited, in the goal-size groups, for having met their goal and having the largest percentage of that assigned 2003 membership turned into State Headquarters by the Veterans Day target date.

Brandon Post #318 won in the 15-74 member Post goal-size group by being at 155.56 percent, Geddes Post #56 in the 75-124 Post goal-size group by being at 104.21 percent and Dell Rapids Post #65 in the 200-299 Post goal-size group by being at 101.44 percent. There were no winners in the 125-199 or the 300 and larger Post goal-size groups.

Pukwana Post #201 was second in the 15-74 goal-size group with 117.65 percent, Centerville Post #43 was second in the 75-124 goal-size group with 104.21 percent and Wagner Post #11 was second in the 200-299 goal size group with 100.91 percent.

Membership Chairmen from 5 Districts won an appropriate award because their respective District had enrolled at least 75 percent of their goals and had no "goose-egg" Posts by the Veterans Day target date. The winners are: Bob Bender of Hartford, District 1; David Owens of Iroquois, District 2; Wolfgang Migge of Watertown, District 3; Ardell Horst of Geddes, District 7; and Gerald Sanborn of Leola, District 14.

A total of 507 Legionnaires in the state have been certified by Post Adjutants as winners of State Commander Walt Lindemann’s coveted cap pin for 2003. This number is up significantly from the 438 Legionnaires who were certified last year for this award.

Finally, 28 Post Commanders have earned a specially designed cap for having their Post at or beyond 100 percent of membership goal by the Veterans Day target date. Those winners are: Tom Conlon, Brandon Post #318; Darrell Weinacht, Dell Rapids Post #65; Lanny Nelson, Centerville Post #43; Gary Dykstra, Marion Post #235; David Timm, Elkton Post #198; Raymond Rennich, White Post #88; David Osbeck, Arlington Post #42; Beth Abraham, Ramona Post #216; Jerry Wicks, Carpenter Post #153; Neil Erdahl, Rosholt Post #48; Edwin Paszek, Grenville Post #267; Steven Meyer, Virgil Post #268; Frank Oberle, Mellette Post #151; Lloyd Priebe, Pukwana Post #201; Ardell Horst, Geddes Post #56; Almon Adam, Pickstown Post #282; Merle Stone, Wagner Post #11; Marvin Walz, Alsen Post #44; Kenneth Van Kekerix, Witten Post #167; Melvin L.J. Young, Allen Post #317; Aloysius "Adam" Little Elk, St. Francis, Post #297; Philip Pearson, Philip Post #173; Daniel Weischedel, Agar Post #79; Darrel Burke, Isabel Post #120; Terry Haaland, Claremont Post #262; Boyd Bruse, Warner Post #137; Duane Jark, Stratford Post #207; Oscar Prasek, Selby Post #100. The number of awardees in this category shows an increase of three Posts as compared to last year.

All awards, with the exception of the cap pins, will be presented during the Midwinter Conference, January 24-26, 2003, in Pierre. State membership staff have already begun sending the cap pins to Post Adjutants.

The next membership target date is Pearl Harbor Day, December 7^th. Due to the fact that Pearl Harbor Day falls on Saturday, and all national membership target dates are on Wednesdays, the actual deadline for memberships to be in to State Headquarters to count toward the Pearl Harbor Day target date will be Tuesday, December 10.

After that, the next major membership target date will be December 31^st. December 31^st is the date when all 2002 memberships expire.

Also expiring on December 31^st for South Dakota Legionnaires who haven’t yet paid their 2003 membership dues is the free $1,000 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy from the Legionnaires Insurance Trust (LIT).

Donn Grandpre, Chairman of the South Dakota American Legion Employment Committee has announced that the committee has selected the Employers of the Year for Hiring Veterans.

Selected as this year’s recipients are: Sanmina SCI of Rapid City, SD in the large category (201 or more employees) and Crazy Horse Memorial of Crazy Horse, SD in the medium category (51-200 employees).

Sanmina SCI, which manufactures printed wire assemblies and computer circuit boards, employs 820 persons, 143 of whom are military veterans. This equates to 17.4 percent of the employees being veterans of military service. The company has 9 Special Disabled veterans, 48 Vietnam Era Veterans, and 45 that the company classifies as other protected veterans. The work hand-in-hand with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Black Hills Health Care System, to provide a work site for veterans in the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) Program. Sanmina SCI and CWT presently have 10 employees participating in this program. In the past, several of the veterans in this program have moved on to full time positions with the company after their release from the CWT program.

Crazy Horse Memorial, a tourism business, currently has 77 employees, 12 of whom are veterans, equating to 16 percent veterans. Of the 37 employees hired this past year, 12 were veterans. Although the company does not have a written policy for hiring veterans and providing veterans preference, discussions indicate that the employer always tries to give preferential treatment to veterans during the hiring process.

The recipients of the SD American Legion Employer of the Year for Hiring Veterans will be officially recognized during the State Convention in Spearfish in June of 2003.

Enclosed to everyone receiving this bulletin is a composite of Post membership standings. The composite is an up-to-date record of membership turned in at State Headquarters as of the Veterans Day cutoff, November 13.

The totals could be different if a Paid-Up-For-Life (PUFL) membership was transmitted to Headquarters. While Posts generally count their PUFL’s immediately, they cannot be officially counted by State Headquarters until accepted by National Headquarters. Pending PUFL applications were checked manually by State Headquarters for the Veterans Day awards.

State Headquarters will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 28 and 29, because of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This schedule follows the schedules of National Headquarters for The American Legion and the Codington County Courthouse, the latter facility being where State Headquarters is located.

All Posts enjoying tax-exempt status with their real estate property should check with the county director of equalization between now and the end of the year to ensure that the proper forms and information is filed on a timely basis.

The 2003 assessment date was November 1. Valuation notices will be mailed next March, and any resulting taxes must be paid in 2003.

Rather than challenging the President’s veto threat, lawmakers chose to take the path of least resistance.

The House and Senate conferees for the FY 2003 National Defense Authorization Act have come up with compromise language for concurrent receipt. Special Compensation for the Combat Disabled for those military retirees with 20 years of service:

1. VA disability rated at 10 percent or higher and a Purple Heart has been awarded.
2. A service-connected disability rated at 60 percent or higher incurred as:

The amount of special compensation would be equal to the amount of the veteran’s disability compensation to which the retiree would be entitled based solely on the combat related disability.

The legislation was approved by the U.S. House on November 12 and by the U.S. Senate on November 13. The House version was considered under suspension of the rules and approved by a voice vote. The Senate version was also approved by a voice vote.

After signature by President Bush, the Department of Defense has 180 days to prescribe procedures and criteria under which a disabled uniformed services retiree may apply to the Secretary of a military department to be considered to be an eligible combat-related uniformed services retiree. Therefore, payment will not be automatic. After procedures and application forms are developed, eligible service-connected disabled military retirees may apply. Until regulations are finalized, it is impossible to define all the conditions of eligibility for payment.

The American Legion remains committed to full concurrent receipt for all service-connected disabled veterans and will continue to work toward that goal in the 108^th Congress.

2003 membership stands at 21,290, or 76.54 percent of goal as compared to 21,968 on this date one year ago. These totals indicate that 2003 membership is running 678 members behind 2002 membership.