The national commander of the American Legion says there is a crisis in veterans’ health care and that the nation is not fulfilling its obligation to the men and women who served the country.

“You need to be upset, and you need to be fired up,” National Cmdr. Ronald F. Conley told about 70 members of the American Legion Wednesday night in Vicksburg.

Conley, who was elected to represent the 2.8 million members of the veterans’ organization, said veterans should push Congress to fully fund veterans’ hospitals across the country. He said some veterans wait up to one year before receiving medical attention.

Mississippi area veterans are served at the sprawling G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Veterans Administration Medical Center on Woodrow Wilson Drive in Jackson. There is also a network of state retirement homes for veterans.

Conley also said that the American Legion has sent a message to President Bush as the nation prepares for a possible war with Iraq.

“Before you put one penny in the budget to rebuild Baghdad or Afghanistan, you need to budget money for the men and women who defend this nation,” Conley said.

Conley was the guest speaker at the American Legion banquet sponsored by Allein Post 3 and Tyner-Ford Post 213. Along with mandatory funding for veterans, he called for programs to help homeless veterans and veterans suffering from Alzheimer’s.

“We’re not sending the right message to the men and women serving in harm’s way today because we’re not taking care of the veterans of the past,” Conley said.

Conley is a veteran of the United States Air Force where he served as an air policeman from 1963 to 1966. He joined the American Legion in 1966 and founded a new post in Pennsylvania in 1972.

He was elected national commander in August during the 84th American Legion National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. The American Legion is the largest war-time veterans’ organization consisting of members from War World I, War World II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama and the Persian Gulf.