While it is available for veterans to take a break and play video games, it’s also available as a room for veterans who are going to school and need a place to do homework in peace. Smith says the cybercafe hasn’t been too busy since opening but expects interest to grow over time. Something Smith is lacking in the VFWs of today. The perfect place to attract younger veterans. All stations are wired with high-speed internet too. Stations are spread out to follow COVID precautions, but Smith expects to add high-speed gaming laptops in the open spaces later. The room has 12 gaming PCs, six XBOX consoles and offered around 70 games when it first opened. They donated equipment and embraced what we were doing,” Smith said. VFW 8541 had to pivot at times to continue serving veterans but with some help, the gaming hall slowly grew into what it is today. The initiative began in January 2020 and was complicated by the oncoming pandemic. That conversation happened with his son, a gamer, and family friend Sam Elizondo of San Antonio’s LFG Cybercafe. “One day we said, 'You know what? Let’s recreate the gaming atmosphere here that was going on in Afghanistan and Iraq with the younger veterans,'” Smith said. Army for more than 30 years and is a retired sergeant of the San Antonio Police Department. Department of Veteran Affairs showed video games can help post-traumatic stress and substance abuse disorders. Their relief valve was able to get onto these games,” Post Commander Bill Smith said.Ī 2019 study by the U.S.

“When I was in Afghanistan I was watching these Green Berets, individuals doing great things for our country. SAN ANTONIO - VFW Post 8541 in northeast San Antonio stands alone as the only one in the world to have a cybercafe.

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