Two Resolutions to the Constitution & Bylaws were approved in the Business Meeting at the National Reunion September 20, 2024.

1)     ‘Free Life’ Memberships for Vietnam & Cold War Veterans
2)     Changes to the National Elected and Appointed Officers

Details to Follow:

1)     Membership Resolution to the Constitution& Bylaws

Introduction: It’s time we recognize and reward a group of members for their many years of loyal support of the Association who have established a solid legacy that we can all be proud of and pass on to the next generation of Ivy Veterans. Therefore, to coincide with the 50th anniversary year (1975) of the official end of the Vietnam War and the previous Cold War periods, we propose the following resolution and membership changes be voted on at the 2024 National Reunion to be implemented January 1, 2025.

“Any Vietnam War or Cold War Era Veterans who honorably served with the Division prior to the official end of the Vietnam War, April 30, 1975, and were members in good standing at the close of the 2024 calendar year, will owe no more annual dues and shall be granted a ‘Free Life’ membership effective January 1, 2025.”

We would like to handle this in a single motion and take a vote during the first Business Meeting on September 20, 2024.

‍Following is a list of Bullet Points with more details about the Resolution.

·        Granting ‘Life’ memberships to groups of members has precedent as we did to the WWII and Cold War members who served prior to and including 1956 when the Division returned home from Europe, and was done many years before for our WWI veterans.  

·        Members of the Vietnam War or Cold War Era’s whose memberships have lapsed, would be required to reinstate their good standing by purchasing an annual Veteran membership before gaining the ‘Free Life’ member status. These same conditions apply to new members from these Era’s wanting to join for the first time. By implementing this on January 1, 2025, members and former members of this group will have three months to get their memberships in ‘Good Standing’.

·        Cold War Era Veterans will need to confirm their dates of service with the Executive Director before being granted ‘Free Life’ memberships.

·        The Paid-for-Life Fund balance and our finances will support this proposal.

·        Annual Chapter Dues rebates will apply to the ‘Free Life’ memberships as well as the normal annual rebates for ‘Paid for Life’ and all new and renewing members maintaining support for our Chapters.

·        The only Life memberships offered going forward will be ‘E-Life’ Veteran Memberships for Veterans and Active-Duty. We will phase out and no longer offer the Age Based Paid for Life memberships as we will be changing the delivery of the Ivy Leaves magazine to digital only in the future.

·        All Veteran, Memorial and Associate memberships will be set at $20/annually. The Veteran E-Ivy Annual Digital ($15) memberships would be discontinued as all memberships will soon be digital, and we want to maintain the competitive $20/year for all regular annual memberships.

·        Active-Duty annual digital memberships shall remain at$10/annually for all ranks.

·        Paid for Life, Free Life, Regular Veterans, Memorial and Non-Spouse Associate members will continue to receive a printed and mailed copy of the Ivy Leaves for as long as they are offered by the Association. It is planned that all Association media publications will become digital in 2026.

·        The Ivy Leaves magazine will be available by digital PDF on the website, in the E-Ivy Leaf Newsletter ‘Resources Section’, or by email request only starting in 2026, so collecting email addresses from members who have not given us their emails will be a priority in 2024-2025.  

·        This proposal will streamline our membership options and eliminate much of the workload of manual dues collection, and by utilizing the ‘Auto-Renew’ feature of the website for annual memberships, will greatly benefit the Associations volunteers in the future.

2)     Changes to the National Elected and Appointed Officers

Introduction: The Nominations Committee and the Long-Term Planning Committees are recommending the following changes in the duties, responsibilities, terms of office, and the number of National Elected and Appointed Officers.

‍Following is a list of Bullet Points about the Resolution.

ARTICLE IV: NATIONAL OFFICERS

(National Elected Officers’ Duties & Responsibilities)

·        The National President and National Senior Vice President shall both serve a (2)two-year term of office

·        The National V-P Planning position will be eliminated – these duties will be divided and merged into the responsibilities of the National President & National Senior Vice President

(National Appointed Officers’ Duties and Responsibilities)

·        Vice President – WWII & Cold War position will be eliminated – these duties will be merged into the new VP Vietnam & Cold War Era’s position

·        Vice President – Vietnam & Cold War- would become an appointed position and will continue to serve on the E-Board

·        Vice President – War on Terror- would become an appointed position and will continue to serve on the E-Board

ARTICLE V: BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The E-board or Executive Board, shall have eleven (11) members comprised of the Association’s four (4) elected officers as set forth in ARTICLE IV,SECTION I, the immediate past National President, and six (6) appointed officers; the Executive Director, National Treasurer, National Secretary, Vice President – Vietnam & Cold War, Vice President – War on Terror and the Parliamentarian/Judge Advocate shall be appointed by the National President, with the approval of the elected officers to serve on the E-Board.
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ARTICLE VI: ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT

SECTION IV.

1)     a) To be qualified to hold a National Elected Office, a member of this Association must have served with or have been attached to the Fourth Infantry Division and have been authorized to have worn the Fourth Infantry Division shoulder patch. To be qualified to hold the office of National President or National Senior Vice-President, a member of this Association must have been a member thereof for at least three (3) years and have successfully served in a national elected or appointed position or have served as an elected officer of a chapter of this Association.

b)To be qualified to hold a National Appointed Office, a member of this Association must be a Fourth Infantry Division Veteran, Memorial, or Associate member in good standing.

We would like to handle this Resolution in a single motion and take a vote during the first Business Meeting on September 20, 2024.

1) PDF Copy of the Membership Resolution

2) PDF Copy of the changes to the National Elected and Appointed Officers Resolution