The American Legion

The American Legion is a congressionally chartered mutual aid organization established to serve military veterans. The Legion currently boasts over 3 million members in 15,000 American Legion posts across the country.

Besides organizing various local volunteer efforts in support of veterans, the organization also remains very active in national politics. As a lobbying organization, the American Legion continually seeks legislative improvement in areas of veteran care to include pensions and medical benefits.

Membership in the American Legion is restricted to people who have served honorably in the military during any of the following times of war:

April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918 (World War I)
December 7, 1941 to December 31, 1946 (World War II)
June 25, 1950 to January 31, 1955 (Korean War)
February 28, 1961 to May 7, 1975 (Vietnam War)
August 24, 1982 to July 31, 1984 (Lebanon/Grenada)
December 20, 1989 to January 31, 1990 (Panama)
August 2, 1990 to Present (Gulf War/War On Terrorism)

The Legion does not require that the potential member have served in the actual area of conflict, only that the person was serving honorably anywhere in the world during the time of conflict. This membership strategy helps to honor those who supported the operation and may have made personal sacrifices to support the operation even though the person may not have seen direct combat.

In maintaining the image of a military veteran's organization, the Legion is structured in a para-military style and is headed by a National Commander.

The legion is divided into areas of responsibility and jurisdictions for ease in administration and coordination. The most basic unit of the Legion is the Post. Posts are local chapters which represent small towns or parts of a city. The local Legion Post usually has the most involvement with local volunteering efforts and community relations.

Multiple Posts are overseen by a County Commander and a County Council of elected members. The County Commander will perform inspections of local Posts and is generally in charge of overseeing the operations of the local posts.

Districts are comprised of Posts for the purposes of representation. Districts differ from Counties in that they do not oversee operations of Posts, rather they represent Posts for purposes of National Committees where smaller Posts may not have as much of a voice as other Posts.

Legion activities within particular states and jurisdictions are oversaw by Departments. Departments are referred to by whatever jurisdiction they preside over. For example, the Department of California, the Department of Florida, the Department of Puerto Rico, etc.

The Departments all answer to and are overseen by the National Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In total, there are 55 Departments within the Legion. Those include one for every state, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., France, Mexico, and the Philippines. The Departments stationed in foreign countries exist to extend membership benefits to military members currently serving or Legion members currently living or working in those regions of the world.

Sources:

Members and Benefits. The American Legion.