Director
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 Force Base, Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, with the 377th Security Police Squadron. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1972.
Parsetich served on DAV’s National Executive Committee for the 14th District from 2014 to 2016. He has been a chapter service officer since 2009, and is a past DAV Department of Montana commander.
In 2010, he was named Volunteer of the Quarter by the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2017, he was appointed by then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David Shulkin to serve on the Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, where he continues to serve under Secretary Robert Wilkie.
Parsetich is a coordinator and mentor for the Veterans Treatment Court, and has had many of his veterans graduate the 18-month-program and successfully reintegrate back into society.
He’s also a board member on the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness in Great Falls, serves on the board of the Cascade County Suicide Prevention Team and is a member of the Veterans Advisory Council for the Great Falls Vet Center.
In addition to his various duties, he has also volunteered as a driver for the DAV Transportation Network and on the Military Funeral Honor Guard in his hometown.
Parsetich and his wife, Meg, reside in Great Falls, Montana.