VFW members deserve better than story gave

To the editor:

As a member of VFW Post 3838, I am honored that the Southeast Missourian takes the time to visit our post home and interview our members. We are fiercely patriotic and willing to offer an opinion when asked. As a group, we are as varied as the community we live in, and our opinions on most subjects show that diversity.

I am certain that your March 28 story, "Judging the war from the VFW," was not intended to discredit the VFW in any way, but the selection of certain phrases in that story has done just that. The stereotype your article depicts of our members being beer-chugging soldier wannabes who only come to the VFW to drink and discuss days gone by is not at all flattering. In fact, your story hurts our organization.

VFW Post 3838 has given between $80,000 and $90,000 to our community in just the past year. Yet few ever hear about that generosity. Little is ever said about the color guard that represents our organization at public functions. The annual Chili Day, which allows the VFW to contribute to the Christmas Baskets for the needy, is somehow lost in the shuffle.

It is painful for our membership, who do so much and get so little credit, to read an article such as this. The VFW deserves the respect we have paid for.

RODGER O. BROWN

Cape Girardeau