Dept. CDR's Blog Update (October 5th)
- Todd McKinley
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
This past week I had the honor of once again leading the pledge of alliegance while performing my Sullivan County Board of Education duties. www.facebook.com/reel/25201238529483492
That said, the big ticket item this coming week is the Fall meetings in Indianapolis, where I'll be through the 9th.
Weekly Schedule
October 7th: Tennessee Commander's Chat: www.facebook.com/commanderchat
October 5th-9th: Fall Meetings
Rebranding
Feel free to use the following logos on your Post' social media pages, websites, letterheads, handouts and other branding material. I 100% confirmed with national that everything is good to go.
Voter Voice
Have you exercised your Constitutional Rights today? I regularly hear complaints that Congress doesn't listen to us, but I have to ask, are you making them listen? Every 24 hours, you can send a message(s) to your Member of Congress, both House & Senate in less than time it takes to write this sentence, by simply clicking a few times on voter voice.
Be The One
Shout out to East Tennessee Vice Commander for helping me sell several copies.
To help end suicide in all demographics, stop bullying in our schools, combat Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Assault Trauma, and more we officially launched Tennessee’s Be The One Commission to End Veteran Suicide on August 16th. To help fund the commission I wrote a book titled “Those Left Behind: Veteran Suicide and My Late Best Friend Brad Bush” and hoped I would’ve sold more copies by now, but I’m plugging along. However, I could use your help in selling more books, if not then this commission like so many of our programs we have that don't have funds will merely flounder until it comes to an end.
Read more about the commission: www.toddmckinley.com/post/betheonetn
Read more about the book: www.toddmckinley.com/book
Stop complaining and get involved: www.legion.org/join
Full disclosure!
I purchased 200 books at the author rate totaling $775 just before the Department Convention, where I sold 24 books at $15 totaling $360. Add to this $20 in donations, bumping the total for the weekend to $380, which I donated to the Department Chaplain at convention. Mainly through online sells I can happily report I’ve recouped my up-front cost of $775, and on August 16th donated $445 and an additional $45 on August 24th from in person sells directly to the Be The One Commission.
My overall goal is to sell 1K, but to do that I need way more help.
Total Dollars Donated: $870
Total Donated to the Commission: $490
Sales Online: 118
Sales In-Person: 58
# of Books Donated: 23
Total: 199
Buy Now for $10: https://a.co/d/dlXiNoF
Army-Navy Game
Sign up to win tickets: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:va6c2:bd3d628d-59b9-4b66-ba02-16e7730327ad
Department Officer Elections
If anyone wishes to run for any position in the American Legion, especially for Department Commander or Senior Vice, you have every right to do so, just submit a properly formatted and sponsored resolution. While I'm willing to serve more than one (1) term, at present I have no intentions to do so. However, one thing is clear, we're not going backwards, meaning, I'm not going to sit on my hands and allow for our Department to regress and hold a secretive "team" meeting on October 20th or at any other point, this is simply not going to happen in the Department of Tennessee, not on my watch. Who will lead this Department will be determined by the membership, not a “team” working in the shadows. Anyone wishing to run for any position should submit their resolution and plan to campaign cleanly.
Post Constitution & ByLaws
To borrow from the Adjutant's email sent on September 30th titled "Post Constitutions and Bylaws," I've decided to reiterate what he said. The following Posts need to update their Post Constitution & ByLaws NLT the Department Convention which is scheduled for June 25-28, 2026, giving everyone enough time to update and submit to the Department for a full review. The template is available on www.tennesseelegion.org or the Post Officer's Guide.
The following is verbatim from Adjutant Tuttle, with whom I fully concur:
Those with lounges, social quarters, and/or bars should cover those operations in an SOP, especially discipline; suspending someone for the lounge is completing different than suspending a member’s legion/SAL membership. (Please note, the Auxiliary has their own membership suspension/expulsion procedures.
First District – the following Post Constitutions and Bylaws (CBL) need updating Posts: 3, 21, 24, 25, 61, 104, 113, and 145 all were done prior to the Legion Act and Preamble change. Posts 255 and 294 don’t have CBLs on file.
Second District – the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 2, 50, 53, 70, 109, 112, 136, 149, and 212, all were done prior to the Legion Act and Preamble change. Post 154 doesn’t have a CBL on file. Post 53 sent in a revision, returned to the post with comments; post didn’t return revision September 2024; similar story with Post 2 reviewed – returned with recommendations – revision was not returned April 2024.
Third District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 107, 148, 159, 203, and 257, all were done prior to the Legion Act and Preamble change. Post 293 doesn’t have a CBL on file. Of course, Post 95 needs major rework as stated in a previous email.
Fourth District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 46, 56, 66, 122, 129, and 137. Posts 9, 15, and 18 do not have CBLs on file. Please note Post 122 sent in a revision, returned with comments – post didn’t return revised edition.
Fifth District – the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 5, 45, 75, 91, 156, 177, and 288. Post 45’s revision was reviewed and returned to the post with comments January 2024 – revised copy has not been received.
Sixth District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 7, 73, 115, 140, 226, 228, and 248. Post 59 does not have a CBL on file.
Seventh District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 19, 23, 39, 42, 43, 44, 51, 60, 62, 74, 155, and 208. Post 192 does not have a CBL on file. CBLs reviewed and returned to the following post – revisions have been returned for file – Post 19 (Oct 2023), Post 42 (June 2204) and Post 155 (March 2025).
Eighth District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 12, 36, 77, 97, 128, 130, 157, 162, 176, and 286. The following Post sent in a CBL revision – returned with suggestions, however revision was not returned for file; Post 36 (June 2024)
Ninth District - the following Post CBLs need updating Posts: 37, 89, 94, 180, and 200. The following post do not have a CBL on file: Post 20, 30, and 166.
Tenth District – Past District Commander Hethmon pushed completion for every post; however, the following Post CBLs still need updating: Post 1, 252, and 284. Post 284 sent in a CBL this month and was returned with comments – expecting a response in the next month or so.
“VOLS: Veterans Offering Lifelong Service”
Todd A. McKinley
Department Commander
American Legion Department of Tennessee
