Mission 75: Responsible Planning for VVA's Future  

BY TOM BURKE

At the most recent Conference of State Council Presidents and Board of Directors meetings, I introduced what I call Mission 75, or, as some have suggested, the Veterans Victory Alliance. I introduced it to help clarify a few issues for the membership: first, how we keep our name; second, how VVA can exist beyond March 1, 2028, which has been viewed as something like a firm drop-dead date for VVA. Regarding our name, as I will detail later, Mission 75 would protect the existing copyrights on the name of the organization in perpetuity. As for our drop-dead date, I simply don’t see it that way. Instead, I see March 1, 2028, as a planning date by which we must decide what comes next. In my proposed solution, Mission 75 would be a division of VVA — a visible promise, made in the lead-up to the decision date, that VVA’s mission will endure beyond time, safeguarded by veterans who served after us and bound by the principles that founded our organization.

Vietnam Veterans of America was founded to ensure that veterans were never again left behind or turned against one another. Today, we face a different challenge, not of relevance or mission, but of time. Demographics alone demand responsible planning. Mission 75 would ensure that the mission, authority, and legacy of VVA will endure without disruption.

The Mission 75 initiative is not intended as a merger, acquisition, or consolidation of VVA. It is a long-term, phased transfer of operational capacity and institutional knowledge. Vietnam War veterans would retain leadership authority for as long as they are willing and able to serve. This would allow us to ensure that any organizational transition is respectful, controlled, and measured in years, not moments.

Mission 75 would allow VVA to increase its membership by welcoming veterans who served after 1975 into a nonjudgmental community focused on service and advocacy, rather than one focused on a so-called “era” or on combat distinctions. This would expand VVA’s reach and relevance while keeping Vietnam War veterans at the center of authority and identity. This expansion would also allow VVA to remain an organization made up entirely of military veterans.

Mission 75 would create a structured environment to train and prepare future generations of veterans to assume increasing responsibilities in VVA. This plan allows younger veterans to ease into positions of advocacy, governance support, and leadership under the mentorship and stewardship of Vietnam veterans, thereby preserving VVA’s institutional memory and culture

This plan operates fully within VVA’s current 501(c)(19) status and our Congressional Charter. It does not require a full charter rewrite or organizational reform. Only minimal technical adjustments, such as name-continuity provisions, would be required, and then only at the point when no Vietnam War veteran remains eligible to serve in national leadership.

Maintaining 501(c)(19) status preserves VVA’s unique strength as a veterans service organization, including its advocacy, authority, identity, and congressional recognition. Transitioning to a 501(c)(3) would forfeit this hard-won status — something VVA fought decades to achieve and must protect.

The Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America operates as a 501(c)(3) and would remain a critical partner under the Mission 75 plan. AVVA could continue to grow in its associate and charitable role, but legally and practically, AVVA cannot inherit or transfer VVA’s Congressional Charter. Mission 75, as a national division within VVA’s existing structure, allows for seamless continuity without legal risk or loss of standing.

Mission 75 is designed to be the caretaker of all VVA history, titles, names, copyrights, trademarks, wordmarks, and symbols. This guarantees the perpetual existence of Vietnam Veterans of America as a living institution. This plan declares unequivocally that VVA’s mission has no expiration date, while also ensuring that future generations of veterans do not abandon or work against one another. VVA’s founding principle remains: Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another.

To have any chance of working, however, VVA members, through the delegates at a VVA Convention, will need to change our Constitution to open up membership to veterans who served after 1975 (Iraq, Afghanistan, Gulf War). These veterans are waiting to join us when we make this move.

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