LINCOLN, Neb. — Jim Rall and Junior Woodcock arrived at VFW Post 3606 with a lot to do.
Beginning at 9 in the morning, they had to prepare for a lunch for railroad workers, followed that evening by the post's twice-monthly steak night.
The men wouldn't leave until 10:30 p.m.
"As a post, we're very active," said Rall, a 79-year-old Korean War veteran who is beginning his seventh year as commander of the west Lincoln post. "I try to keep everybody busy."
Rall believes his long hours are critical to combating a nationwide decline in membership that has forced many posts to close.
"It's a never-ending battle to get younger vets to join," he said.
VFW posts across the country have lost numbers steadily since the early 1990s, when membership peaked at 2.2 million. Today, 1.45 million vets belong, and more than 30 percent of them are older than 70.
In Nebraska, 72 percent of posts saw a decline in membership over last year. Some of the biggest came at rural posts such as Post 7970 in Harrison, where membership is down nearly 40 percent from 2011, dropping from 21 to 13 members.
At Post 131 in Lincoln, Cmdr. Bill Bechtolt remembers when his post boasted 1,400 members. Today, it has about 900.
"It's a big problem," said Bechtolt, a Korean War veteran. "We're losing our WWII vets, and we just can't get them replaced."
Nebraska VFW Quartermaster John Liebsack said 30 posts in the state have closed in the past six years.
"You get out in western Nebraska, and it's tough," he said. "When a post closes, it's up to vets to transfer to another, which may be 20 or 50 miles up the road."
Post 3606 is bucking the trend, at least for now, with 10 new members this year. But Rall estimates about 30 percent of their members are WWII veterans, who came home from the service more than 60 years ago.
Part of the problem may be that veterans of recent conflicts aren't looking to join right away.
"They're most interested in re-adjusting to their families," Liebsack said. "If you've got two or three kids at home, it's hard to participate in anything."
But, he said, support from a VFW post can be incredibly helpful to returning veterans, who may have to deal with problems ranging from traumatic brain injury to post-traumatic stress disorder.
"We can help them navigate the Veterans' Administration," he said. "That's our job."
Dan Parker, associate director of membership at the VFW national office, said the organization loses 120 to 150 posts every year, largely in rural areas — mirroring a national trend of rural depopulation.
"Younger veterans are finding more opportunities in bigger cities than in their rural hometowns," he said.
In large college towns and cities near military bases, VFW posts haven't had a problem recruiting new veterans, Parker said.
"That's where we're seeing growth," he said. "In recent years, half of our new members have been current conflict veterans."
Looking to the future, VFW leaders are hopeful new veterans will join in higher numbers once their kids are grown and they have more time to devote to one of the VFW's main tenets — community service.
"We work with Boy Scouts, host an Easter egg hunt and give to veterans organizations," Rall said. "That's the way we keep a strong organization."
Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com