Greeting Comrades,

As we begin this new Legion year, let us re-dedicate ourselves to building a better
Detachment. Back to the basics, a simple yet powerful statement. Respect, communication,
teamwork, and information which should be cornerstone principles for the Sons of The American
Legion.

Respect – we all have a desire to help our Veteran’s and their families. As I’m sure we all
have different ideas on how to do this, no idea is wrong. Foster and develop those ideas to see if
they can make a big impact on our organization or improve the lives of our Veterans. It is important for us to have a culture of mutual respect. We are all here for the same reason. Let us support each other in every way, come along side new ideas, develop existing ideas, and work our program to the fullest.

Communication – we all have cell phones. When we send out emails or text messages and
get no response, let’s pick up those phones and make a call. It amazes me that we all have time to
play games on our phones, but not enough time to make a call. A simple, “how are you?”, “how can I help you?”, or “do you need anything?” can go a long way. It helps people feel that they really
matter, which they do. We have a lot of methods for communicating, I just want to encourage
everyone to utilize all of them. Figure out how your Districts and Squadrons like to be
communicated to. Ask them, “hey what is the best way I can make sure you are getting the
Detachment information?” That is a powerful question, that people love to answer.

Teamwork – it doesn’t matter who is in charge. It doesn’t matter if they do things a little
different. What matters is the end result. If a person steps up and is willing to spearhead a project
then we owe it to the program to get behind that person and support them to the fullest. Many
hands make light work. None of us is a strong and smart as all of us. Therefore none of us should
be alone doing a task or working this program.

Information – we have a website, a Facebook page, and a newsletter. You should be connected with all 3 of these tools. Let’s use these things and get this information to all of our members. This is a great opportunity for us to “brand” our organization and continue to get our name out there in the public to raise awareness and support for our program. Please go to our website at salcalifornia.com. Our Facebook page can be found at SAL Detachment of California, search for our page and please “like” us. Our newsletter is called the Adventure and is a state of the art best in the land type of publication, it can be found at sonsadventure.com. Tip, the flip book newsletter is set to music which is a fantastic feature but in order to shut off the music from your phone viewing you need to close the ap. All 3 of these information tools are at your disposal and should be used to send information, tell us what you have coming in your Squadrons, share pictures, share videos, and develop ideas and content.

As your Commander this year, my “pet” project will be Project Hero. This falls under VA & R, this is an organization that helps Veterans with mental and physical disabilities by providing bicycles and rides to go on. Our new VA & R chairman Roger Coggins has been a huge supporter of this program. He will be doing a presentation at our Fall DEC in Amador this year. As the year progresses you will hear more and more about this project to support Project Hero and many other programs that the SAL supports. I urge you to get as involved as possible in all of these opportunities to serve and help make our world a better place for our Nation’s heroes.

Our Detachment will be sponsoring a resolution at the National Convention this year in Minneapolis, MN. An amendment to our National Constitution hasn’t happened in over 30 years, this is exciting for all of us in this great state. California has a great opportunity at the National level to lead by example and inspire future leadership in our organization. Thank you to all who are helping to take California higher within the Sons.

In closing, let’s work together, treat each other with respect, share information / ideas / resources, and pick up the phone and talk to each other. I am extremely excited about this year, I am proud to be your 2018-2019 Detachment Commander, and I am driven by the hard work displayed by the members of this Detachment. This is going to be a fun and great year!

For God and Country in Support of the American Legion Family

Sincerely,
James R. Fischer
Commander 2018-2019
Detachment of California