David Cooley is four decades removed from the waters off the coast of Vietnam, where he served his country alongside his fellow Navy veterans.

Today, the 69-year-old from Excelsior finds himself fighting again — this time against the potential consequences from increased privatization of his health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

More than 10,000 American Legion members have gathered in Minneapolis for the organization’s annual convention this week, while Veterans for Peace wraps up its own event Sunday in St. Paul. Key among their concerns is growing trend of VA care being deferred to private health care providers — and who will pay for it.

“Our position is that when a veteran earns a benefit they should not have to pay for that benefit through the degradation of another benefit or service provided by the VA,” said Joe Plenzler, a spokesman for the American Legion’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C.