Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Biography: Aaron Hanania
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics
    • Two Guys on Politics
    • Hanania on Tiktok
  • News Wire
  • Archive 2004-2013
  • Toggle search form
  • Father and two daughters Jeffery M Leving
    Father’s Fight to Protect his Abused and Badly Beaten Daughters Dads' Rights
  • Illinois Senator Michael Hastings addressing the Orland Township Democratic Organization Wednesday Oct. 12, 2022
    Hastings announces $75,000 grant for Olympia Fields Bicentennial Park renovations Illinois Legislature
  • Alleged Member of Chicago Street Gang Charged With Soliciting the Murder of Senior Law Enforcement Official Involved in “Operation Midway Blitz” Crime
  • IIEC Logo
    The Energy Omnibus Bill will increase rates over the rest of this decade as Illinois families and businesses toil under higher utility costs Business
  • Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Polish hero of the American Revolution. After arriving in America in 1776, Kosciuszko joined the Continental Army. As a skilled engineer, he made significant contributions to the war by designing fortifications for several strategic places such as Philadelphia, West Point, and Saratoga. Kosciuszko later returned to Poland to lead his native military in a 1794 uprising. In Detroit, Courtesy of WIkipedia
    Cook County Treasurer Pappas showcases Polish photographer’s first-ever American exhibit and honors Polish American Heritage Month in Chicago Cook County
  • On Saturday, October 4th, Cook County Commissioner Frank J. Aguilar hosted the Fifth Annual 16th District Dia de los Muertos Resource Fair at his district office. Partnering with Commissioner Aguilar were the Village of Lyons, Lyons School District 103, Teamsters Local 777, and Rincon Family Services.
    Commissioner Frank J. Aguilar Hosts Fifth Annual Dia de los Muertos Family Resource Fair  Cook County
  • Jesse Jackson Jr July 2025
    Jesse Jackson Jr. Launches Candidacy for Congress Civil Rights
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas to Celebrate Diwali by Recognizing Indian Community Leaders Cook County
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Statement of US Attorney Andrew S. Boutros and Federal Law Enforcement Leadership in Chicago on Ongoing Criminal Immigration Enforcement Operations Chicago
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    The 5 Most Common Mistakes Homeowners Make with Property Taxes Cook County
  • Road construction cement truck. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Hastings: $123 million in IDOT projects will improve South Suburban roads through collaboration with local leaders construction
  • Source: Electric Power Monthly - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
    Ratepayers will lose in the rush to approve battery storage electricity legislation in Springfield Business
  • Joyful reunion photo courtesy of Jeffery M. Leving & Assc law firm
    Leving Team Prevented a Father’s Wrongful Separation from His Child Dads' Rights
  • CTF Illinois Orland Park, 18230 Orland Pkwy, Orland Park, IL 60467
    Hastings, Giannoulias announce opening of temporary driver services facility in Orland Park Baby Boomers
  • Emagine Theater Pink popcorn
    Popcorn with a purpose: Emagine Theatres brings back Pink Caramel Corn to support Pink Fund during Breast Cancer Awareness Month Business
Orland Park Veterans commemorate Veterans Day. Photo courtesy of the Village of Orland Park

Time for one unified organization for veterans

Posted on November 24, 2021November 26, 2021 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Time for one unified organization for veterans
SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  

Time for one unified organization for veterans

Having two organizations to represent military veterans is wrong. The VFW and the American Legion should be combined into one group and all veterans should be allowed to join without the perception of discrimination.

By Ray Hanania

During my sophomore year at Northern Illinois University, I knew my life wasn’t going the way I wanted it, so I decided to enlist in the military.

It was June 1973. Although President Nixon announced the “Paris Peace Accords” with North Vietnam in January, I was pretty sure the war was not going to end as fast as Nixon needed.

The accords turned out to be another typical Henry Kissinger debacle. As the U.S. wound down support for the South, the Communists ramped up their military invasion.

Nixon was weak, caught up in Watergate and trying to appease the Communist Chinese. He resigned on August 8, 1973.

My draft number was low. I could have avoided military service, but I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Despite the rhetoric, the recruiters told me I would probably be going to Vietnam as things were not working out the way Nixon had hoped. It wouldn’t be as bad, they said.

Orland Park Veterans commemorate Veterans Day. Photo courtesy of the Village of Orland Park
Orland Park Veterans commemorate Veterans Day. Photo courtesy of the Village of Orland Park

 

I had ever expectation to go to Vietnam and serve at an F-111 air force base. That wasn’t to be the case though, and the military shifted me from field medical training to dental training.

But it wasn’t up to me where I would serve. I didn’t have the choice. And the lack of choice is exactly what the military is all about. The military decides everything. They decided not to send me overseas.

Two years in, after training and assignment to an F-11 base at Mountain Home, Idaho, I was urged to trade-in remaining time for the Air National Guard. I was assigned to the Peoria National Guard where I served for 10 more years.

It never occurred to me that there is a class distinction as an active duty member of the U.S. military between those who served overseas and those who did not.

The VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars, was only for those patriotic Americans who were dispatched to war zones, whether or not you saw action or sat behind a safe desk.

They gave me a Vietnam Era Ribbon, and I did get the G.I. bill I was promised, which helped me return to college to get my life back on track.

I was told I could join the American Legion, the subdomain of the military fraternity, where veterans who served but never left the United States could come together and contemplate how they were “less of a veteran” than those in the VFW who made the 8,000 mile trip across the pacific.

I never joined. There were some issues of racism, too, being “Arab” that I encountered during active duty, in the National Guard, and even from veterans here in the United States. Most came from non-military politicians who wore the distinction but never earned it. It was politics, driven by anti-Arab animosity from the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the Arab oil boycott. Clearly, like many Americans, the military was on the side of Israel, not the Arabs.

I thought they were supposed to be on the side of Americans.

Membership in the VFW and American Legion is slumping. Most of the members are older. Younger veterans who had a better sense of unity, were not joining either organization.

What we need is to merge the VFW and American Legion into one Organization that treats all active duty military exactly same. We need to take the politics out of the two organizations and end the “honorary” political appointments that give power to government officials who never served but decide the fate of veterans and their benefits.

Despite all the political rhetoric about honoring veterans, the U.S. Government does a poor job of caring for us. It’s worse for veterans today than it was when I served. At least I got the G.I. bill which basically was about $485 a month to pay for four years of college, but no other real benefits.

If I get sick, I guess I can go to the V.A. Hospital, although I’m not even sure about that.

Like government, the military treats veterans like crap, too. The politicians exploit us for political gain. Yet we become the focus of their patriotism. The public looked at us through a political lense. Some like us and some hate us.

It would be nice if we had one organization that fought for us the way we each served to defend this country, rather than have two organizations that honestly are out of touch and are living in the deep, deep past.

I am proud to have served my country honorably. I’m just not so proud of the service.

newswire info
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • Father’s Fight to Protect his Abused and Badly Beaten Daughters - October 9, 2025
  • Hastings announces $75,000 grant for Olympia Fields Bicentennial Park renovations - October 8, 2025
  • Alleged Member of Chicago Street Gang Charged With Soliciting the Murder of Senior Law Enforcement Official Involved in “Operation Midway Blitz” - October 8, 2025
NPV: 28
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  
 
 
 
           
Baby Boomers, Blogger, Commentary, Editors Pick, Opinion, Veterans, Veterans Column Tags:American Legion, military service, servicemen, US Military, veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW

Post navigation

Previous Post: Goodman Theater begins rehearsals for Nightwatch and Layalina
Next Post: Orland Township hosts digital Toy Drives for needy families

Related Posts

  • Tornadoes Hit Illinois 50 Years ago, Belvidere and Oak Lawn Baby Boomers
  • Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau wears a "Police" badge on his shirt during his political attacks made from his taxpayer funded village pulpit.
    Orland Park Mayor Pekau’s lies cost him the election, again Blogger
  • U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland
    U.S. District Court orders suburban Chicago company to stop distribution of adulterated and misbranded nutritional supplements Crime
  • Harold Washington in a radio studio at WLUP with host Ray Hanania (far right) and Tribune reporter Thom Shanker (center). Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Rename Navy Pier after Jane Byrne Opinion
  • Cook County Board Commissioner Sean Morrison, the mudslinger
    Feeling sorry for failed Mayor Keith Pekau Blogger
  • Orland Park Police Department courtesy of the Village of Orland Pakr
    Orland Park Police Department Releases Thanksgiving Enforcement Numbers Crime

More Related Articles

Veterans News and Information National
Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas Treasurer Pappas offers ‘snowbirds’ and other Cook County property owners the option to prepay taxes due in 2025 Cook County
Actress and sitcom comedian Roseanne Barr. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia A “teaching moment” on Roseanne Barr, the media and political hypocrisy Blogger
Rose Marie Lipinski, wife of former alderman and Congressman Bill Lipinski, died Monday July 12, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Lipinski family Tribute to fighter behind a Chicagoland success story, RoseMarie Lipinski Bill Lipinski
Live Theater. Photo by Gwen King on Unsplash Live theater in suburbs offers alternatives to Chicago’s risky visits Blogger
Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights Federal lawsuit aims to protect kids from Social media Blogger

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID
  • OPINION
  • 06-04-25 Two Guys on Politics Background Zoom LOGO with images
    Video Podcast: Trump Kimmel Kirk Great American Divide Illegal Aliens polling and Illegal Aliens and ICE
    September 20, 2025
  • Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch speaking at a West Side affordable housing dedication
    Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, one of the best candidates to become Illinois Governor
    September 7, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    What You’re Missing on Your Property Tax Bill
    September 5, 2025
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Children of divorce caught in the middle during the holidays
    August 27, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    We Can Help You Understand Your Property Taxes—In Nearly Any Language
    August 8, 2025
Subscribe to Ray Hanania's column graphic

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png

Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio

  • NEWS
  • Father and two daughters Jeffery M Leving
    Father’s Fight to Protect his Abused and Badly Beaten Daughters
    October 9, 2025
  • Illinois Senator Michael Hastings addressing the Orland Township Democratic Organization Wednesday Oct. 12, 2022
    Hastings announces $75,000 grant for Olympia Fields Bicentennial Park renovations
    October 8, 2025
  • Alleged Member of Chicago Street Gang Charged With Soliciting the Murder of Senior Law Enforcement Official Involved in “Operation Midway Blitz”
    October 8, 2025
  • IIEC Logo
    The Energy Omnibus Bill will increase rates over the rest of this decade as Illinois families and businesses toil under higher utility costs
    October 8, 2025
  • Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Polish hero of the American Revolution. After arriving in America in 1776, Kosciuszko joined the Continental Army. As a skilled engineer, he made significant contributions to the war by designing fortifications for several strategic places such as Philadelphia, West Point, and Saratoga. Kosciuszko later returned to Poland to lead his native military in a 1794 uprising. In Detroit, Courtesy of WIkipedia
    Cook County Treasurer Pappas showcases Polish photographer’s first-ever American exhibit and honors Polish American Heritage Month in Chicago
    October 8, 2025
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO RAY HANANIA'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS


Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Categories

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme