Jewish War Veterans Working Together To Accomplish Our Mission
By National Commander Nelson L. Mellitz
I have been a member of JWV for more than 30 years, serving in many positions, including numerous Post committee leads, Junior Post Commander and now National Commander. It wasn’t until I became National Vice Commander that I learned of the complexities and capabilities of our national staff. At the JWV headquarters we have wonderful individuals who sometimes work seven days a week in our interest. However, the JWV national staff is made up of just ten paid employees. To compare that with another Veterans Service Organization (VSO), the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) has 84 paid headquarters staff. JWV and MOAA manage many similar programs to support service members and veterans’ issues. In addition, our JWV staff works with me daily to fight against antisemitism and promote the support of Israel.
I don’t want to discourage Departments and Post members from contacting our national staff, but every day headquarters receives requests that could be handled at the Department or Post level. Our national headquarters staff is composed of strong individuals who all contribute to our ever-improving organization and to our outreach and reputation in the military, veteran, and Jewish communities – thank you for working at JWV.
As your National Commander I travelled across much of the United States on almost every weekend of October and November, including trips to Minnesota, West Point Academy, Air Force Academy, Reserve Organization of America’s National Convention, Mikve Israel in Savannah, Post 1 events in New York City, Veterans Day ceremonies in Arlington, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, etc. I have plans to travel in January and February to attend the Departments of Florida and TALO Conventions, The Aleph Institute, The Chapel of Four Chaplains Foundation 54th Annual Banquet, Federation of Jewish Men’s Club, Middle Atlantic Region Dinner, and other events. At these events I talk about what JWV has recently accomplished and what we are planning to accomplish, including improved benefits for service members and veterans, actively fighting antisemitism, and support for Israel. I explain why qualified individuals should join and be active members of JWV. If you would like me to attend one of your events, please contact me through email with the request.
In my travels the most rewarding events have been ones involving young Jewish members of the military. A good example is the recent Jewish Warrior Weekend held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There were nearly 100 Jewish cadets, midshipmen, ROTC students, and military academy future service members in attendance. The students mobbed me after my presentation with pointed questions about military service, JWV’s mission, and how we at JWV are fighting antisemitism. Wherever I travel, I have found wonderful young Jewish service members and veterans. Jewish women and men serve in the U.S. military – let’s recruit them to serve in the Jewish War Veterans.
Last year and during part of this year the Jewish War Veterans celebrated our great accomplishments over the past 125 years. We must all work together and continue to accomplish our mission to support service members, veterans, fighting antisemitism, and support of Israel. I am here to help you accomplish our JWV mission. Feel free to reach out to me at nationalcmdr@jwv.org.
Volume 76. Number 4. 2022
