{"id":108642,"date":"2018-10-22T08:04:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T13:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=108642"},"modified":"2018-10-23T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T12:38:08","slug":"former-local-vfw-post-commander-seeks-state-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/10\/22\/former-local-vfw-post-commander-seeks-state-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman veteran seeking state VFW office"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

A former military police officer and local sheriff\u2019s deputy wants to parlay her interest in the Veterans of Foreign Wars into a statewide office this coming year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colleen Wiley<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Colleen Wiley, a 20-year veteran sheriff\u2019s deputy who spent 15 years as a military policeman, as well as a stint in Afghanistan as a corrections officer in 2003, is seeking the position of surgeon for the VFW\u2019s Department of Ohio.<\/p>\n

The position, which Wiley said was filled by an actual military surgeon when the VFW was first created 119 years ago but is now honorary, is the first step in a five-step process that would eventually make her the VFW\u2019s state commander. The other steps are judge advocate, junior vice commander, senior vice commander, and commander.<\/p>\n

Wiley, who served a term as commander of VFW Post 5803 in Van Wert from 2012-2016 and now is a member and chaplain of VFW Post 3035 in Delphos, said she has been involved in some activities at the state level already, including serving as state community activities chair and membership chair — and has served on national level committees — \u00a0 \u00a0but added that she would like to be more involved at the state level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have input I can give to the veterans, and to the VFW,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Wiley said the surgeon\u2019s position basically deals with veterans\u2019 health and safety issues, and, if elected, she would travel to Ohio\u2019s VFW posts to talk about those issues, which have a greater and greater impact on veterans, many of whom have been deployed multiple times in combat zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries.<\/p>\n

Of course one of the big health issues is suicide by military veterans, Wiley noted, adding that, at one time, 22 veterans a day were committing suicide across the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat number is a little lower now,\u201d she noted, but said suicide was still a major issue for veterans, along with substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD). \u201cIt (suicide) is still a big effect on all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiley, who said she has been spending weekends campaigning in a number of VFW districts across the state prior to the 2019 statewide officer election, which will be held at Kalahari Water Resort in Sandusky next June, noted that she first went to her boss, Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach, to get his approval to seek the position.<\/p>\n

She noted that Sheriff Riggenbach had no problems with her seeking a statewide position.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he thought it would be good for me,\u201d Wiley added.<\/p>\n

Her husband, John, who is a state inspector for the VFW, is also a big supporter of her candidacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fully behind her in her endeavors,\u201d John Wiley said, noting that he doesn\u2019t have time himself to seek the bigger state positions, but has done some campaigning for his wife.<\/p>\n

She is also officially sponsored by VFW Post 3035 in Delphos, and has been endorsed by her district, District 2, as well as District 1 (Toledo area), and several former state department commanders.<\/p>\n

Wiley said she enjoys the comradery involved with visiting other VFW posts, noting that she enjoys hearing other veterans\u2019 stories about their military experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery veteran has a story, if they want to tell it, and if they do, I want to hear it,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Wiley said she also likes to deal with fundraising and issue awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest things I\u2019m always thinking about is raising money, or raising awareness for an issue,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Wiley said the local VFW post was struggling financially when she became commander, and she worked hard to help improve the post\u2019s finances, as well as activities, while in that position.<\/p>\n

For now, Wiley said she was enjoying traveling the state to campaign, noting that she would be attending a mid-winter conference to talk to delegates and hand out flyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed the post level, and going through the district level with John, but now I want to do more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor A former military police officer and local sheriff\u2019s deputy wants to parlay her interest in the Veterans of Foreign Wars into a statewide office this coming year. Colleen Wiley, a 20-year veteran sheriff\u2019s deputy who spent 15 years as a military policeman, as well as a stint in Afghanistan as a corrections […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 10:57:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}