Women Veterans of Freeborn County

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Women Veterans of Freeborn County met March 2 at the American Legion in Albert Lea. Women veterans present included Pat Johannsen, Judi Olson, Julie Hamson and her husband, Dennis, Deanna Luedtke, Ruth Perry and Sandy Maiden.

Maiden finished assembling a member’s history/story and gave it to Luedtke to ensure inclusion in the museum. She will contact the member to set a date and time.

After action discussion about the Christmas tree program this past season at Northbridge Mall.

The fall Women Veterans meeting will be on Oct. 8 at Veteran’s of Foreign Wars Post 494 in Crystal. More information will be distributed at a later date.

Luedtke shared several articles from the AARP bulletin.

National Legion Commander Dale Barnett states that more accountability is needed at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Barnett believes the VA is worth saving but needs a lot of work to make it more accessible to more veterans.

Army Sgt. Beau Bergdahl will now face a general court martial rather than the special court martial that was originally recommended. The group discussed their feelings about his actions and possible legal issues.

Two different articles states there were changes made to the Veteran’s Choice Program. However, after reading them, the group felt the changes were so minimal that they don’t feel it will help the situation. While the articles stated the program has made over 400,000 appointments, they don’t address how many of those appointments were actually attended.

Luedtke relayed that she had four appointments cancelled for various reasons.

The group received an unexpected donation of $127 from the family of Otelia Ros.

Maiden will ensure that the food donations are delivered to the food pantry.

The next meeting of the Women Veterans of Freeborn County will be at 11:30 a.m. April 6 at American Legion Post 56. The group encourages all women military veterans to join them for an informal lunch, discussion and commeradary. Call Luedtke at 414-530-3982 for more information.