Joe Parsetich, Commander
Joseph “Joe” Parsetich, a service-connected disabled Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, is currently serving as national commander for the more than 1 million-member DAV. He was elected to the organization’s highest office at the 2022 DAV & Auxiliary National Convention in Orlando, Florida.
Parsetich enlisted early in 1968 and requested assignment to Vietnam. He was stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, with the 377th Security Police Squadron. He was honorably discharged in 1972.
Parsetich served on DAV’s National Executive Committee for the 14th District from 2014 to 2016. He has been a department service officer since 2009 and is a past DAV Department of Montana commander.
In 2017, Parsetich was appointed by then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin to serve on the Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, where he continues to serve under Secretary Denis McDonough.
He’s also served on several other executive committees including the USS Montana Steering Committee, the Cascade County Suicide Prevention Committee and the Montana Joint Community Forces Committee. He was a board member for the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness in Great Falls and was on the Veterans Advisory Council for the Great Falls Vet Center.
Parsetich has served as a coordinator and mentor for the Veterans Treatment Court in Great Falls, having many of his veterans graduate the 14-month-program and successfully reintegrate back into society.
Additionally, Parsetich hosted a Great Falls public radio show, On Point Veterans Talk Radio, has volunteered as a driver for the DAV Transportation Network and served on the military funeral honor guard in his hometown.
His recognitions include being named Volunteer of the Quarter by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010, being named the 2017 Outstanding Veteran Volunteer by the Black Eagle-Assiniboine chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and received a Distinguished Citizen Medal from the Great Falls, Montana, detachment of the Marine Corps League in 2018.
Parsetich and his wife, Meg, reside in Great Falls. Between them, they have seven children, three foster children, 32 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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