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At 48, Brian Kern was the youngest veteran in the room during the Veterans Day program at American Legion Post 259 in Clinton.

Kern, the post commander, worked the room after the Nov. 11 ceremony, greeting and swapping stories with some members nearly double his age. He said Post 259 — like many veterans groups around the country — are having trouble attracting younger veterans who served after the Vietnam War.

"There's much more competition for things to be involved in," he said, noting he didn't join until 2000. "Today's veteran is more individualistic."

Kern and other members of Post 259 are concerned that as World War I and World War II veterans pass away, there won't be enough young veterans interested in taking their place.

In addition to offering social activities for veterans, these groups are also important in advocating for veterans' benefits, running community outreach programs and offering veterans an emotional support system, Kern said.

Elbert White, former commander of Post 259 and a member of the county's Commission for Veterans, suggested that veterans groups could encourage younger people to join by adding programs and services such as child-care for working families to Internet cafes.

Prince George's County is home to 74,000 veterans, the most of any county in the state, according to White. There are approximately 484,000 veterans in Maryland.

Age, not numbers, is the problem, Kern said. The number of members at Post 259 has hovered around 1,000 since 2005, reaching a high of 1,091 last year, according to Post 259 records.

Although the organization does not track members' ages, White points to several signs Post 259 is aging.

Ten or 15 years ago, he said, members would have trouble controlling the young children running around during Post 259's weekly pizza night. They still host the dinner, but he said the absence of children and young families is noticeable.

White, who served in the Navy during the Korean War, joined the American Legion in 1963. He agreed with Kern that post-Vietnam War veterans are facing more demands on their time.

"Many of them, the wives are working, the kids are in school and they don't have time to participate," he said.

Kern also noted that unlike the immediate post-World War II era, which produced a surge of membership in veterans groups and advocacy for veterans affairs, veterans of recent conflicts like the Gulf War and combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are emerging in smaller groups as opposed to all at once.

Lt. Sergio Padilla, 25, said that while he plans to join a veterans group when he finishes his service someday, he thinks veterans groups are failing to market themselves to younger service members and veterans.

"I think it's a communication factor — they need to push," said Padilla, who works as a protocol officer in the Air Force on Joint Base Andrews and lives in Alexandria, Va. "If you don't know it's out there, how can you get it?"

Ron Potts, a 66-year-old Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War and member of Post 259 since 1992, agreed, saying older veterans could do more to convince younger veterans that an organization like the American Legion offers camaraderie that is hard to find once they finish their service.

"They explain the benefits, but they don't explain the community," said Potts, who served from 1961 to 1983."I'd love to have them here."

E-mail Zoe Tillman at ztillman@gazette.net.