By Harold Rodenberger
On February 18th I attended one of the quarterly meetings of Washington VFW District 2. This time we held the annual memorial service for departed members of our posts and auxiliaries in addition to our regular business meeting.
There are currently 13 districts in the State of Washington. Each district is composed of between five and twelve posts. In our district there are seven posts covering the Seattle and Vashon area.
There are no members of the district, as such. The officers and delegates who attend and conduct district meetings remain members of their individual posts. The district is an administrative level of command between post and department (state) headquarters. In addition, each district commander is a department officer.
In earlier years, the district officers were much more involved with the subordinate posts’ activities, helping with training and guidance of post officers. As with many chains of command, modern communications have reduced that role. Yet, even today they have responsibilities to inspect the books of the post quartermasters, choose district winners of the Youth Essay and Voice of Democracy contests, and select the district winners of the various community honorees such as Teacher of the Year, Firefighter of the Year, Scout of the Year, Policeman of the Year, and Veteran of the Year.
Good post officers often become district officers and promising officers at that level often work their way up to positions at the department level.
The next District 2 meeting will be held at our hall in Ballard on May 6, 2017, with lunch at 11:30 a.m. and the meeting at 1:00 p.m. It will be the annual District 2 Convention featuring election and installation of officers along with some other business. Please try to attend this meeting to give our post a good representation.