Pierce County man is new WA state VFW commander. Here are his plans to help veterans

Paul Herrera has always wanted to serve others. He did so as a child when he dedicated much of his free time to volunteering as a Boy Scout. He did so as a 19-year-old when he enlisted in the military, ultimately spending 21 years in the Army.

That calling has not changed since he retired his uniform in 2011. Herrera, who lives in Puyallup and is now a Puyallup Tribal Police Officer, has dedicated much of his post-military career to the national nonprofit Veterans of Foreign Wars, a group that aims to support veterans after their time in the service. When members elected Herrera as the first Puyallup resident to lead the organization’s Washington State chapter in June 2022, he saw it as an opportunity to better advocate for former soldiers.

“It’s all about the veterans,” Herrera said in an interview with The News Tribune. “It’s a true love of veterans, boy, I’m telling you.”

Herrera, a local of North Bend, Washington, joined VFW while he was stationed at Fort Lewis shortly after returning from an Iraq tour in 2008 but did not attend organization meetings until his civilian life began. Once his wife and he started going to meetings, they felt a sense of kinship with the other military families part of the organization.

“People that have walked the same walk and talked the same talk,” Herrera said. “Even if it’s a different conflict, there’s some definitely paralleling experiences.”

When the United States removed its military troops from Afghanistan in 2021, memories of his Iraq tour bubbled to the forefront of Herrera’s mind. He began asking himself questions like, “Why were we even there? Why did we do this? Why was I gone all that time?”

Although Herrera did not necessarily find answers to those questions, he found empathy from other VFW members. Talking to people like Jack Taylor, a Vietnam War Air Force veteran who has been involved with VFW since the 1990s, made him realize that Vietnam Veterans felt similarly at the end of that war.

“The image of the McChord aircraft that was taking off and people were hanging on it ... go back and look at those images,” Taylor said, referring to a 2021 video of Afghan citizens running alongside a U.S. Air Force plane and grasping at its body. “That’s exactly the same image we had in ‘75.”

Herrera’s involvement with VFW has grown with time. Starting as social media chair for the organization’s local Puyallup Valley post, he proceeded to land higher positions at both the district and state levels; in the midst of his ascent, he was recognized as the 2016 Veteran of the Year by the organization’s state chapter. Just before accepting his current state commander position, he lobbied the state Legislature to ensure that veterans kept their post-military benefits like VA medical care.

According to Taylor, members like Herrera have been important in rehabilitating the image of VFW. In the past, some posts have been at odds with their communities over members’ alcohol consumption within VFW walls. Taylor said that with Herrera’s help, Pierce County VFW posts have been committed to keeping their spaces wholesome.

“There’s been this big transition from the image of the guys in the VFW being a bunch of old guys sitting at the bar, swapping war stories and smoking cigarettes,” Taylor said. “[Now], if it isn’t a family friendly place, the place isn’t going to survive.”

As head of VFW’s state chapter, Herrera sees his main responsibility as providing the resources Washington members need to find local veterans and learn about their needs.

“Things are changing all the time,” he said. “We’re reaching people left and right. Not just Facebook, but with other avenues like that.”

Once those needs are identified, Herrera believes it is important for his team to make sure those needs are met. That includes connecting homeless veterans with medical benefits and advocating for the VA to cover more female-specific health procedures, like mammograms.

“Women are on the gun line now,” he said. “They are in combat arms now. So it’s here to stay ... I want to mirror what the military looks like.”

Herrera will continue working to commemorate Washington’s veterans. He is raising money for a state War on Terror memorial, a project approved by the Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee earlier this year. The memorial, which is set to be built on Olympia’s Capitol Campus, would have the names of every Washington resident who died while fighting in the Global War on Terrorism.

All of Herrera’s VFW goals are reflective of the same mission he’s been pursuing since his days as a Boy Scout: service. This time, that service is aimed toward the more than 540,000 veterans throughout the state, including nearly 100,000 who live in Pierce County.

“America is defined by how we treat the ones who sacrifice to protect this nation,” Herrera said. “If there’s doors that open for me to help veterans, I will definitely go through it.”