05/13/2026
Carol Whitmore is the first woman to lead the VFW, and she took command during one of the most chaotic years veterans have faced in a long time.
Carol Whitmore biggest priorities as the VFW National Commander are advocating for veterans, fighting claims sharks, repatriating the remains of POW/MIA, and highlighting the service of women. But she took command of the VFW at a turbulent time for veterans: a VA secretary accused of moving against veterans’ hard-won benefits, thousands of veterans facing foreclosure, and a membership base in slow decline.
It’s a historic time, but she’s accustomed to that. In August 2025, she was elected National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. She is the first woman and first Iowan to lead the 126-year-old organization in its history.
But Whitmore has been making history for nearly 50 years. She enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps in 1977, one of the final cohorts of the all-female military branch that would be disbanded the following year. She served 36 years in the Army, deployed to Iraq, and received the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star before retiring in 2013.
The VFW is a congressionally chartered veterans service organization representing approximately 1.3 million members across more than 5,500 posts worldwide—and Whitmore has the opportunity to make history once again by leading it through an uncertain era for veterans.
It wasn’t long after her election to the VFW’s top post before there was a flashpoint for her constituency.
An interim final rule published by the VA on Feb 17, 2026, would have required medical examiners to factor in the effectiveness of medications or treatments when determining a veteran’s disability rating—a change veterans’ advocates warned would slash compensation for hundreds of thousands of people who rely on medication to manage their conditions.
The VFW mobilized immediately.
“We sent out over 20,000 emails to the secretary,” Whitmore said, “and he came to our conference personally and apologized for that and said, ‘I will rescind this immediately.’”
VA Secretary Doug Collins formally rescinded the rule just 10 days after its publication.
“When you send out 20,000 emails to the VA Secretary, he sits up and takes notice,” she said. “He told us his top three advisors were fired for advising him to do this.”
The issue Whitmore describes as her personal passion this year is the Major Richard Star Act. The legislation would end a longstanding offset that forces medically retired veterans (those discharged before 20 years due to combat-related injuries) to choose between their military retirement pay and their VA disability compensation rather than receiving both in full.
“They’re two different benefits, earned benefits for veterans,” the VFW National Commander said. “Yet if you’re not 100% disabled, that money is offset, and you can only choose one. And that is completely unfair to a veteran.”
Whitmore says, probably one of the biggest responses the VFW gets when they ask a prospective member to join is “what’s in it for me?”
“The Forever GI Bill, the PACT Act, and now going for the Major Richard Star Act,” she mentioned. “Advocacy is by far the most unseen thing the public knows about what we do, and that’s what we do. We advocate for every veteran, for every aspect of what a veteran deserves and needs.”
“We were founded on the earned benefits that Washington did not follow through with after the Spanish-American War in 1899,” she added. “We’re not going to take that. Our service officers are second to none.”
For all the legislative and institutional battles, Whitmore’s identity remains rooted in something simpler.
“I told everybody I’m a veteran first. I just happened to be female.”
Full story by Blake Stilwell found in the comments
