More VFW Convention

My last two posts mostly concerned the two major party presidential candidates and how they addressed our convention. Today I'll cover some of the other things we accomplished here.

Our convention is the supreme authority of our organization and as such acts through the delegates to enact and modify laws governing how our group operates, which people are appointed as our leaders and various goals and programs for the current and future years. Our individual posts, districts and departments (state bodies) operate under the umbrella of our national organization and are governed by its constitution and bylaws, These governing documents are called Manual of Procedure, By-Laws and Ritual in the VFW and other names by other groups.

This year there were almost one hundred proposed amendments and revisions to be considered and voted on by our convention. Many of these were minor housekeeping changes but some were substantial and all required vetting by the various committees and then a vote on the floor of the convention.

In addition to the changes in our governing documents there were many other items of business. There were many guest speakers including Secretary of the VA Bob McDonald, who is a great speaker.

VA Secretary Bob McDonald

Awards presented included the VFW Americanism Award to artist Scott LoBaido; Hall of Fame Award to comedian, actor and retired USMC Lt Col Rob Riggle; National Teacher Awards to three teachers; a $30,000 Voice of Democracy Scholarship Award to Grayson Campbell and the Armed Forces Award to BG Roberson from the US Army Special Forces Command (Airborne). We also met our 2016 VFW Buddy Poppy Child, 12-year-old Jaeden Davis.

BG Roberson addressing the convention

Wednesday, July 27. We elected Brian Duffy as our new Commander in Chief. Chief Duffy is our first veteran from Desert Storm to hold that office. We also elected Karen Anderson as our Quartermaster General. She is also a veteran of Desert Storm and the first female veteran to hold that office.

Some members of our Washington delegation, including Junior Past Commander Aaron Stoltz and new Commander Nestor Tamayao,  parading around the floor to welcome our newly elected Senior Vice Commander  Keith Harmon

Karen Anderson, our new Quartermaster General                                              Bob Wallace, our new Adjutant General

Incidentally, I sometimes hear from older veterans of the Vietnam War that they were rejected for membership in the VFW during those years of the war and for awhile afterward. Our new Adjutant General, Bob Wallace, is a veteran of the Battle of Hue and received three Purple Hearts for wounds during that time.. He joined the VFW in 1968. Of course, I can't speak for all the posts in our organization but he is an example of a veteran who was welcomed into the VFW during the height of the Vietnam War.

When not busy with convention business I had a chance to look around Charlotte. It's a bustling city with lots of construction in the downtown area and plaques and statues on corners everywhere commemorating the grand historical past of this important part of America.

One of the many water features in the area

"Firebird" in front of the Museum of Modern Art

The oldest Catholic Congregation in the city occupies this church, now staffed by the Jesuits.

Other plaques and statues abound within the downtown area. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is commemorated here as are several other historic moments in Charlotte's past.

This plaque is one of many along Liberty Walk in downtown Charlotte

After taking in the cultural side of Charlotte it was time to take in nourishment of a more physical kind.

Across the street from our hotel was a restaurant called The King's Kitchen, a nonprofit where they served good southern food and trained some of Charlotte's homeless in the restaurant trades. The first time we ate there I had a flounder calabash which was good. When it came time for dessert I wanted to order the blueberry bread pudding but it required a 20-minute lead time so we decided to go back another time.

The next time we went back I ordered their pot roast special. It also was good but the highlight of the evening was the blueberry bread pudding. It was served in a cast iron skillet and was hot from the oven with a large dollop of vanilla ice cream. Absolutely scrumptious.

We couldn't eat all of this excellent blueberry bread pudding for two

I mentioned in an earlier post that our hotel was being renovated so the dining room was a makeshift operation in a third floor space. The staff made up for the inconvenience by serving pretty good food for reasonable prices.

A pretty hefty corned beef sandwich (the remaining half) in our hotel dining room.