'This is why you join' the Legion

When extended an invitation to join the Department of Kentucky’s Legion Overseas Deployment (LOD) team on a trip to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this fall, immediate Past National Commander Mike Helm accepted. Helm wanted to see how valuable the Legion could be in a setting like the naval base.

As Helm found out, the Legion proved to be very valuable.

Helm said that while the group was talking with staff from the base’s Fleet and Family Support Center, a U.S. Navy retiree was listening in on the conversation. “Before we were done, he came in and took part in that conversation because he was very interested in those things that we might have to offer,” Helm said. “Everywhere we went, we were received like that. The main thing was letting (Guantanamo personnel) know this is what The American Legion looks like.

“I was amazed how hungry (the base personnel) really were (and) that they really didn’t have any idea of what The American Legion might be able to offer. Once they understood who we were and what we were doing there, they came forward … to try to learn more.”

Helm was one of seven Legion members that went to Guantanamo Bay, joining Kentucky Legionnaires Dr. Peter Trzop, Pam Blain, Bobby Cravens, Stevie Ray, Mark Kennedy and Frank Thompson. It was the third LOD trip; members of the team have visited Djibouti, Africa, to meet with members of the Kentucky Army National Guard’s 138th Field Artillery, and to RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath in England to interact with U.S. Air Force personnel.

Trzop, a member of Post 42 in Bardstown, Ky., has been on all three trips. “Every time we do this we do try to add people to it,” he said. “We try to get people that really bring something to the table. For example, Bobby Cravens … set up The American Legion Riders with other people in Kentucky. Or past National Commander Helm – that’s an example. That brings it out of (Kentucky) and allows other states to see what we’re doing.”

The Guantanamo Bay trip came about via an invitation from the Navy. It’s kind of neat and exciting that they took that time to allow us to do that,” Trzop said. “I think it says a lot (about) The American Legion. If you have a great organization, and you couple that with people with some pretty good backgrounds, I think that makes it a lot easier.”

During the visit, the LOD talked to the base command and personnel about services the Legion offers and shared info on Legion programs, and set up at the base exchange to reach as much of the base personnel as possible. The visit also received coverage on the base radio station and in the base newspaper.

“When we got to the (Navy Exchange) that weekend, you would be amazed how many people had already known, ‘The American Legion is here. This is what they’re doing,’” Trzop said. “We were not making any effort to sign people up (into the Legion), and we literally signed 25 people up. That might not sound like a big deal, but when you go to a place that’s never had an American Legion presence … it’s pretty impressive it moved that fast across that base.”

The LOD was given a tour of the base, which Trzop said is critical to the visit. “It gives you the lay of the land,” he said. “It allows you to understand what you’re dealing with: How big the place is (and) what the (personnel) and veterans are looking like? Is it more family oriented? You really have to fundamentally get a grip on what’s going on. As you talk to people, they start realizing what you’re bringing to the table. The first part of the trip is always building relationships. Even though people hear what you’re saying, they really don’t get it until they see you. That’s why building relationships are important.

“One thing we established at (Guantanamo Bay) is if a soldier needs help when they’re retiring or getting out, that they can call us, and we would actually connect them with a service officer somewhere … in the United States, like in the state they’re going back to.”

That’s all part of getting the Legion message out, Trzop said. “You brand,” he said. “You say, ‘This is what we do. These are the things we’re going to offer you. We can help you with service officers.’ A lot of these people never knew what the Legion had to offer. They didn’t even know what the (Department of Veterans Affairs) had to offer. Now they do.”

During the visit, the LOD also was invited to talk to the base’s W.T. Sampson High School to talk to junior class about Boys and Girls State. “What was neat about that was we had Post 42 say they would sponsor every person that wanted to go to Boys State,” Trzop said. “Another individual has access to a foundation, and he … offered to pay every airline ticket to get the kids to Boys State. I think that’s pretty cool.”

If one of the team members can’t answer a specific question, they get the person’s contact info and will follow up with more information. But, if they can provide help on the spot, they will.

“One lady – her daughter is going to go college – and she didn’t know … if she could use her GI Bill for her daughter,” Trzop said. “So we started explaining the process and how we can do this. And then her daughter showed up the next day just to say ‘thank you.’ We will change this kid’s life, not because we signed her mom up, but because we actually did something.”

Trzop also spoke with an Air Force chief master sergeant whose teeth were damaged while on active duty and who was paying $10,000 every five years for care. “Within five minutes, he already understood what the VA should be doing,” Trzop said. “He understood what The American Legion can do for him. He just said, ‘You just gave me $20,000 or $30,000 over the course of my life.’ It’s those little moments that aren’t planned that (make you) leave knowing you really did something right.”

Moments like those left Helm impressed with the LOD team. “(Trzop), he’s a great guy, and all those people with him had their own special thing they did and did well,” he said. “They all had the pieces. That team was a complete American Legion post, if you will, that was going in offering their services for a lot of different things.”

Guantanamo Bay officials already have asked the LOD team to come back this spring to meet with even more base agencies, do some service officer work, set up the post and get the Boys State program started.

The long-term solution to providing services to the personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Trzop said, is setting up a Legion post there. “This was something that was approached to us multiple times by multiple people,” he said. “We have 25 people who will start a post up. (Department of Kentucky Service Officer Randall Fisher) set a temporary charter up. The neat thing about it is the Legion isn’t signing up people in Guantanamo because we’re just getting members. These people are wanting to sign up because they want to know how to be service officers. That’s pretty cool.

“And … we can train people in Guantanamo how to be services officers, then they’re going to spread that to wherever they get assigned next. That’s going to help build that Legion foundation of service to others.”

Trzop said that other Legion departments are free to set up their own teams, and “if they need someone to talk to, we’re here. If they need us to go with them, obviously we can arrange that as well. But, we really want people to understand (that) they need to own and they need to do it. The only way this gets to be effective is if more people do it, versus just a small group.

“We’ve got to go on the road and show people ‘this is why you join (the Legion).’ Not just ask them to join.”

Helm believes that mission was accomplished at Guantanamo Bay.

“When (the base personnel) get out and get back in their own community, they’re going to remember that experience and be more likely, I think, to turn to The American Legion – either to become a member or … receive help,” he said, adding he’d like to see posts and department adopt a similar program to reach out to their own communities. “We can take that same program and make The American Legion better here in our local departments,” he said.

To contact Trzop about setting up a Legion deployment team, email him.