French elected first female commander of Legion post

Kinlee Whitney 
NLJ Correspondent 
 
After serving the American Legion for 10 years, Deb French became the first woman nominated and elected a commander of Newcastle’s George Monroe Post No. 3. She hopes her new position will encourage other women and young veterans to join the organization.
French served in the U.S. Air Force as a B-52 crew chief from 1980-1987. She became a member of the Legion in order to join the American Legion Riders, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts. 
“I’ve always been an avid motorcycle rider, so that’s why I originally joined. Then, I just fell in love with the service,” French said. 
French was nominated for the position by the post’s vice commander, Kirk Will. 
“Deb’s been involved in the Legion for years and years and years,” Will said. “So she has good knowledge and that’s what we’re after.” 
As post commander, French is in charge of appointing committees, as well as fulfilling the four pillars of the American Legion, which are national defense, veterans’ rehabilitation and vocation, Americanism, and children and youth. 
So far as commander, French and the post have sent six delegates to Boys State, a statewide conference where high school juniors gather to perform mock government and learn about the armed forces. The post presents good citizen awards to third, fourth, and fifth grade students at Newcastle Elementary School. 
Under French’s command, the post also wrote a resolution to register a nationwide three-digit suicide hotline number specifically for veterans. The resolution was passed by Congress and is set to be available in July of 2022. 
Though French is determined to continue the current work of the post, she said, she also hopes to move the post forward. 
“I’m hoping that being the first female commander will help attract other females to our post,” she said. Of the post’s 78 members, only three are women and only French is active. 
French hopes to attract not only female veterans to membership but also younger veterans. French said the average age of post members is late 50s to mid-60s.
“I think (the younger veterans) fear is that we’re just a post of old men and women that sit around and drink and play bingo,” she said, “but that’s not what we’re about.”
While the post’s goal is to serve the community, veterans benefit from their membership through Legion discounts. The post is also working on a program to get American Legion veterans a 10% discount on their college tuition. But French said that the best benefit of the American Legion is the relationships with each other. 
“Only a veteran knows what other veterans have been through, so we have that camaraderie available through the post,” French said.