Female veterans get their own VFW Post!

Vets start female-focused VFW post
By Matthew Daneman - USA Today
Posted : Monday Apr 25, 2011 6:21:44 EDT
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Marlene Roll is used to standing out in a crowd.

The former Army reservist joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1991 shortly after returning from a deployment in the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War. She quickly found that attracting fellow female military veterans to the male-dominated VFW was no easy task.

As Roll rose through the ranks of the VFW, and post after post asked her for advice on attracting female members, she decided maybe a different approach was needed.

“I thought the only way to bring them in was give them a post of their own,” said Roll, chief of staff for the New York state VFW and women veterans chairwoman for the national VFW.

And so, Roll went to work organizing what has become the nation’s only VFW post founded by and targeting the needs of women.

Men often wear their military backgrounds almost literally on their sleeve, with jackets or hats proclaiming their veteran statuses, Roll said.

“But not in the female world. A lot of them didn’t even know they were veterans and eligible for the VFW,” said Roll, 46, of Alden, N.Y. “And a lot of them shifted gears when they came back — ‘I’m a mom, I’m a business woman.’”

The VFW has a membership of 1.6 million, with membership typically being men ages 60 and up, said Jerry Newberry, VFW director of communications.
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Vets start female-focused VFW post