Whither the Royal Canadian Legion? Or RCL Withers?
- Thread starter George Wallace
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It was a good survey, some leading questions but lots of space for comments. Definitely a good start to find some root causes.
Puckchaser: trust me from experience brother, online info can be manipulated to prove the manipulator's point.
I would like to have a beer with you sometime, or a toke.
I respect your opinion as as a younger vet but believe me, online manipulation of ideas is a weak form of control.
Truth always prevails : )
I would like to have a beer with you sometime, or a toke.
I respect your opinion as as a younger vet but believe me, online manipulation of ideas is a weak form of control.
Truth always prevails : )
rotrhed
Jr. Member
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I struggle with this. A lot.
I've been a member of my hometown RCL for over 20 years, even though I now live about 4 hours away. While I was in the CF full-time, having a membership there was mutually convenient. It's a small, rural MB branch that needs all the help it can get. The 'old' vets are all gone and I'm one of the few members with any military service.
This branch is active in the community, holds a meaningful Remembrance Day service and has members that respect, welcome and honour the latest generation of veteran. I've been asked to speak several times at the Remembrance Day service and always feel welcome. Plus this branch has closely followed my career and supported me and my family along the way.
But when I hear about the behavior and lack of accountability at Dominion Command level, I want to terminate my membership. As a dues-paying member, I feel I have the right to know how every penny is being spent. Without the membership, there is no RCL. Toss in irresponsible social media comments by a prospective director, questionable awarding of scholarships to director's children and the poor treatment of vets at various branches and it seems leaving is a no brainer.
I want to support my hometown branch and the good people there, but it's clear national and other branches are failing the membership. What to do...
I've been a member of my hometown RCL for over 20 years, even though I now live about 4 hours away. While I was in the CF full-time, having a membership there was mutually convenient. It's a small, rural MB branch that needs all the help it can get. The 'old' vets are all gone and I'm one of the few members with any military service.
This branch is active in the community, holds a meaningful Remembrance Day service and has members that respect, welcome and honour the latest generation of veteran. I've been asked to speak several times at the Remembrance Day service and always feel welcome. Plus this branch has closely followed my career and supported me and my family along the way.
But when I hear about the behavior and lack of accountability at Dominion Command level, I want to terminate my membership. As a dues-paying member, I feel I have the right to know how every penny is being spent. Without the membership, there is no RCL. Toss in irresponsible social media comments by a prospective director, questionable awarding of scholarships to director's children and the poor treatment of vets at various branches and it seems leaving is a no brainer.
I want to support my hometown branch and the good people there, but it's clear national and other branches are failing the membership. What to do...
ModlrMike said:
The RCL's new initiative has begun recieivng media attention in a few differnet outlets. Unfortunately the entirety of the story is not being told, in part due to the RCL's rticence to comment when asked.
The OSI Special Section (nobody in the legion or prospective membership of the section is using "OSISS" as an acronym, Special Section in Legion parlance goes back to the 1920s) is not going to be directly providing care. It's going to be an initiative to try to leverage the Legion's broad reach to bring care to vets and vets to care, to engage in advocacy on OSI issues, to fight stigma, and to try to find gaps in existing services that the RCL can help remedy. There is no 'fee' charged for accessing services by vets, period. The section will function similarly to an at-large branch of the RCL, and membership of the section (NOT necessary to receive services) will have a $10 membership fee akin to but much lower than what you pay to join an RCL branch.
The RCL's initiative has fostered further infighting within the veterans community, with talking points clearly spoon-fed to media by those who engage far too frequently in Facebook drama. The RCL is trying to take concrete steps, led by the modern generation of young vets, to address one of the biggest emergent problems in the vets community and to try to do real good. It's disappointing and shameful that some cowards are trying to torpedo that through news and social media.
Edited for compliance with certain site rules - Brihard 2016-06-11
Teager
Sr. Member
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The problem though seems to be no one from the Leadership of the Legion is explaining or trying to clear up the issues. Even Legion members seem confused and don't really know what's going on. Perhaps the Legion needs better communication from its Leadership so things don't get out of hand so quickly.
Teager said:
Agreed. However the OSI Special Section is expected to be ratified and formalized within the next few days. With nothing yet official, the interim leadership of the section doesn't want to jump the gun with press releaes on something facing imminent confirmation.
Things wouldn't have 'gotten out of hand so quickly' were a small subset of people not mounting an attack on the initiative using the voices of reporters. Just more blue on blue in the vets community.
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Yet you have to accept that the Legion OSISS and the CF OSISS could potentially be confused for one another? I hate to be overly suspicious, but the similarity seems far to coincidental to have been a product of chance.
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Jarnhamar said:
To be quite candid, I don'tappreciate dragging Facebook drama to these means, is there a valid reason for it on army.ca?
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Jarnhamar said:
Brian accused of Veterans hiding behind a Journalist. I used those screenshots to point out why the Journalist is REALLY reporting on the topic.
I am not going to get baited by you, so I am going to ask you to please stop.
Significant edit made to this post, removing a portion in order to remain compliant with cite rules regarding some prior legal issues. I couldn't really 'save' the meaning of this portion of the post through careful edits, so I've removed this aprt entirely. Original post continues without italics - Brihard 2016-06-11
I have separately addressed the interim leadership of the OSI Special Section on this and have told them that silence in the face of questions is unacceptable, and that the section will need to be more forthcoming and candid lest the narrative be determined by the one side that is saying anything. I am not convinced the author did the best job he could have, however it's not his fault he was hobbled by a dearth of information coming from the RCL.
I'm perfectly content to speak to my understanding of and opinions of the RCL Special Section. Minor redaction edit as per above - Brihard. I'm not going to get into vet-on-vet social media politics on these means, however. I couldn't really care less who likes or hates each other, it's none of my business, and of everything in the past few days worth of articles I have not commented on dumb crap people have said on facebook. I've always stayed as neutral as I can in that stuff, neither burning bridges nor stepping on dicks. I don't intend to get drawn into changing that now whether it's on army.ca or the comment section of a newspaper. I'm accountable for my own words, I'll let others be held accountable for theirs.
I have separately addressed the interim leadership of the OSI Special Section on this and have told them that silence in the face of questions is unacceptable, and that the section will need to be more forthcoming and candid lest the narrative be determined by the one side that is saying anything. I am not convinced the author did the best job he could have, however it's not his fault he was hobbled by a dearth of information coming from the RCL.
I'm perfectly content to speak to my understanding of and opinions of the RCL Special Section. Minor redaction edit as per above - Brihard. I'm not going to get into vet-on-vet social media politics on these means, however. I couldn't really care less who likes or hates each other, it's none of my business, and of everything in the past few days worth of articles I have not commented on dumb crap people have said on facebook. I've always stayed as neutral as I can in that stuff, neither burning bridges nor stepping on dicks. I don't intend to get drawn into changing that now whether it's on army.ca or the comment section of a newspaper. I'm accountable for my own words, I'll let others be held accountable for theirs.
Jarnhamar
Army.ca Myth
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The problem with a lot of veterans are that they act like overly dramatic children on social media. Their concerns and voices are drown out by temper tantrums, name calling, challanges and drama. A lot of people tune in for the entertainment value which is unfortunate.
Not trying to bait you here John but if you feel I am then you're always welcomed to ignore me of course.
Not trying to bait you here John but if you feel I am then you're always welcomed to ignore me of course.
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Jarnhamar said:
Funny thing is you and your crony (Not you Brian, another person) can't seem to leave me alone. I also see reported to posts, bening a moderator.
Considering you were once a mentor, act with some decorum.
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Jarnhamar said:
A side effect of not having a strong RCL to be the one unified voice for Canadian veterans (of any war/conflict). As soon as they ceded the advocacy to other groups, every group thinks it has the right answers and the bickering continues.
John Tescione said:
I already said I stand by those words, and even helpfully put them in quotes before you quoted them again in huge letters. Not particularly sure what part of that wasn't clear. When I say I own my words, I own them.
Edit to add: This post references others that were required to be edited for content. Site rules obligated me to remove my opinion on a particular subject for legal liability reasons - Brihard
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