Guidance For Establishing A VMF Caucus Within Your Country Committee

Authored by: George Bottorff, USMC, Ret., and Dems Abroad Global VMF Caucus Steering Committee Member

Free-use “Making A Plan” image retrieved from UnSplash.com

The guidance provided here is broken into three sections: Phase I refers to the beginning time period when the idea of establishing a Veterans and Military Families (VMF) Caucus within a Democrats Abroad (DA) Country Committee is first introduced. Phase II refers to the VMF Caucus-in-formation period. And finally, Phase III refers to the time period after it has been successfully established.

As of October 2025, there are country-level VMF Caucuses in DA Germany, DA France, DA Spain, and DA Italy. VMF thanks the DA Global Women’s Caucus and all others who previously shared ideas on establishing a Country Committee Caucus. The guidance offered below incorporates those past ideas mixed in with the author’s personal experience of attempting to form a VMF Caucus within DA Austria.

In the author’s opinion, creating a country-level VMF Caucus involves considering the country committee’s veteran - or military-connected members’ motivation, morale, and psychological mindset. Some DA members have been out of the military for decades, some have participated in combat, and some have incurred illnesses or injuries resulting in permanent disabilities. Knowing this, it is essential to remember the diverse community that may join the VMF Caucus. Nonetheless, the careful planning of establishing the Caucus will be key to ensuring a smooth process from a simple idea to fruition.

Creating a Veterans and Military Families (VMF) Caucus

Phase I

1. Inquire within the country committee’s Executive Committee (ExCom) to see if it is permissible per the country committee’s by-laws to start up a VMF Caucus
   1. If it is permissible, then what needs to happen? Does it simply need an ExCom vote? Does an all-member vote need to be held at the next Annual General Meeting? Can the country committee Chair simply declare its creation and a VMF Caucus Chair?
   2. You should start thinking of a response in case you are asked, “Why?” For example, are there many veterans living there? Is there an ABMC cemetery there? Are there any U.S. military installations there? Are there any veteran service organization posts there (e.g., VFW, American Legion)?
2. Once permitted to establish a VMF Caucus in your country committee, you will need to advertise.
   1. This can be done through a monthly newsletter, social media, spreading the word at regional monthly calls, or word of mouth within a country’s chapters.
3. When seeking interest in forming a VMF Caucus, identify the point person for registering interest.
   1. There should be a way for them to contact you with questions. Have you set up a specific e-mail address for VMF purposes? Or are you comfortable sharing your personal e-mail address, phone number, and/or social media profile?
   2. Ensure that, if you are forming a VMF Caucus, you register as a member of that caucus.
   3. Once you have at least a dozen members willing and able to become VMF Caucus members, let your country committee Chair and ExCom know there is significant interest in formally establishing the Caucus.

Phase II

1. Once permission to form a VMF Caucus is granted and it is now “in formation,” try to set up an in-person meet-and-greet. Joining members should be welcomed and encouraged to share what military/veteran issues are on their minds, whether they are military-connected, whether they are able to volunteer a specific skill set, and related items. In addition, try to set up a virtual option for those unable to attend; this can be on the same date or a different date.
   1. Some country committees have places where meet-ups are common or centrally located. Always keep your country chair informed of the progress of the in-formation VMF Caucus.
   2. If meeting in person, always choose a location easily accessible by public transportation and consider disabled-friendly establishments.
   3. Every meeting, whether in-person or virtual, should have goals such as getting to know one another, learning about what VMF does, defining roles within the group, and assigning at least one action item to everyone present.
   4. Remember – In addition to local DA leaders, the DA Global VMF Caucus can always provide support and guidance.
2. Does the ExCom require a VMF Caucus to be written into its by-laws?
   1. If so, is there a template? Is there another already-established Caucus within the country committee that VMF can use as an example?
3. Is there a particular structure that the VMF Caucus must abide by?
   1. Meaning, will it be led with just a VMF Chair? Or will it need a Vice Chair (or Co-Chairs), Secretary, Communications person, or other role(s)?
   2. Understand who will fill a role if that individual steps down or is otherwise unable to continue serving in that role.

Phase III

1. Once the VMF Caucus is formally established within your country committee, it may be a challenge to maintain it. There should always be actions to pursue to keep the membership engaged. Someone may want to take on a leadership role. Another member may want to run social media platforms. And yet another member may want to spearhead a letter-writing campaign to Congress on a particular issue/bill. In short, there are countless activities for the Caucus to do!
2. Plan which tasks the Caucus needs at a high level. For instance, does your ExCom want monthly/quarterly updates? Is the Caucus required to hold monthly meetings?
3. Next, be sure to inform the entire country committee membership that the VMF Caucus now exists (e.g., newsletter, social media), that it is open to all DA members in your country, and that it is always seeking volunteers for a variety of purposes.
4. And finally, offer a variety of options for members to participate in.

Below are additional things to keep in mind.

1. Getting to know each other during meetings:
   
   
   • Have everyone introduce themselves and say a few words about what motivated them to join the caucus.
   • Are you a veteran, military family member, DoD civilian, ally of veterans, or otherwise military-connected?
   • Have you experienced any challenges from abroad, such as voting barriers, denial of VA benefits or services, or other issues?
   • What military/veteran-related issue(s) worry you most right now?
   • What gives you hope?
   • Do you belong to any other veterans-related groups or organizations?
   • Do you have any particular skill set you could share with the Caucus?
     
     
2. Informing new, existing, and potential DA members about the VMF Caucus.
   
   
   • State the purpose of why the VMF Caucus exists. For example, see here for the “Goals” of the Global VMF Caucus. (Additional suggestion: Split up the text among members and share reading aloud, as this can be very motivating. It will likely raise member questions as well, thereby stimulating conversation.)
   • If you create a presentation, such as a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow, do make sure the members have a copy of what they are seeing.
   • Discuss ways in which your group might work toward our global goals on a local level.
   • The current situation, what the Global Caucus is doing, and the direction it is moving. (This way, you start to match the direction of the Global Caucus.)
     
     
3. Defining Roles

• • At least one person must be designated as the contact person who can interface with your country chair and or Global Caucus Chair.
  • A country-level VMF Caucus Chair can be either appointed or elected by the country’s Chair or national ExCom.
  • Try to make sure at least one of your members can attend DA Global meetings. It is vital to have VMF representation at DA functions and events.

_______________________

After your first and all subsequent meetings

• Share pictures of your events with VMF leaders so they can be posted in the newsletter and on VMF social media. They could also go up on your own local DA chapter page. Be sure to “tag” or post on the Global VMF Caucus pages as well.
• Make sure attendees are members of the Global VMF Caucus and the Country Committee Caucus, and that any guests who are DA members are encouraged to join the VMF .
• Make sure you get a list of attendees’ contact information so that you can keep them informed of what is happening within the caucus.
• If you are asked a question you don’t know the answer to, let the member know you will find out as soon as possible, and let them know. Volunteers need to know their time is valued and that any questions from VMF members are important.

Core Function of Your VMF Caucus

• It is critical to the overall mission of Democrats Abroad that each DA entity and volunteer work on getting out the vote (GOTV) efforts. For the VMF Caucus, try to narrow this focus to the military-connected community. This could include conducting nonpartisan voter registration at U.S. military installations abroad, collaborating with veterans’ groups (g., the VFW) to register voters, phonebanking other DA members, setting up voter registration tables at in-person events, promoting VoteFromAbroad.org at meetings and on social media, and related items. And always share pictures of your events with your country committee and other VMF leaders so that they can be reshared via newsletter and social media, and potential new members can see the caucus is active.