The Female Run Alpena VFW Post is Seeking New and Younger Members

The VFW in Alpena is run by strong, dedicated and motivated women, but they let the guys in too. The Alpena VFW post has some women that are a force to be reckoned with, at the pool table anyway. “When I joined in the late seventies, under the delayed enlistment program, they had just opened up career fields to females and aircraft maintenance. So, I elected to go into avionics maintenance. I did that for twelve and a half years and then I cross-trained, when I joined the guard, into satellite wideband communications. The washout rate for both of these were rather high for women. but thankfully I made it through,” Quarter Master at the Alpena VFW Tammy Doffek said.

Both women worked decades training in different disciplines, “I retrained into aerospace physiology, which was I was in the first group of females to go into that career field, it was a very enjoyable.” Post Commander Peggy Hann-Miles said. “When I went into aircraft maintenance, I knew it was going to be a struggle because the preponderance, was like an eight to one ratio men to women. So, I think you embrace everything, whether you like it or not,” said Doffek. More than anything, the Alpena VFW is trying to recruit younger members, “We are working to get the younger veterans in. The VFW of today is not the VFW of ten years ago or twenty years ago. It’s much more inclusive than what it was in the past. We really strive hard to reach out to those younger veterans, and we’re looking at other ways to bring younger members in,” Doffek said.