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FLORIDA BRACES FOR INVASION OF VETERANS --
Authorities say the state is not prepared to
be the nation's leader in ex-military.
Story here...
http://www.jacksonville.com/
tu-online/stories/033107/met_8979773.shtml
Story below:
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Florida braces for invasion of vets
Authorities say the state is not prepared to be the nation's leader in
ex-military.
By J. TAYLOR RUSHING, Capital Bureau Chief
TALLAHASSEE - State legislators in charge of veterans' affairs are
continuing to hear the news they are dreading: A crowd is coming.
Already the state with the fastest-growing population of military
veterans, 1.8 million ex-military call Florida home. But a growing
influx of younger veterans expected from the Iraq War may soon strain
the system.
Within a decade, the state is expected to overtake California's 2.2
million veterans as the most in the country.
"The need is becoming so acute," Florida Veterans' Affairs Secretary
LeRoy Collins Jr., a retired Navy rear admiral, told the Senate Military
Affairs and Domestic Security Committee this month.
Rep. Stan Jordan, chairman of the House Military & Veterans' Affairs
Committee, said the state is hustling to ease restraints and free
funding to deal with the coming boom.
"A lot of things are going to be coming down on us at once, and we're
not prepared," the Jacksonville Republican said. "But I'm not saying
we're not going to be prepared."
Much of the unpreparedness is due to bureaucratic conflicts between
state and federal officials. Jordan, for instance, is trying to resolve
a standoff threatening the construction of a new, 120-bed state veterans
nursing home in St. Johns County. State legislators approved $6 million
of the $17 million price tag - the remaining funds are federal - but the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently issued a mandate that only
one veteran can be housed for each room, cutting the capacity in half
before it can even be built. Jordan is working through Florida's
congressional delegation to work out a compromise.
Rep. Jennifer Carroll, R-Green Cove Springs, a 20-year Navy veteran and
former executive director of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs,
is also ready with a quick "no" when asked if Florida is ready. She is
pushing a $1.7 billion business loan program to assist veterans
returning from tours of duty restart or expand their businesses. The
bill passed the Legislature two years ago but was vetoed by Gov. Jeb
Bush.
Gov. Charlie Crist says he supports it.
Similarly, Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, is pushing the state to better
enforce provisions that require veterans to receive preferential
consideration for jobs.
The influx is expected in two groups, and both are expected to be
problematic for different reasons. Most will be returning from the
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and advances in medical technology
mean many of them will survive wounds that would have killed earlier
generations of soldiers. At the same time, there is also a surge of
older veterans: State figures show 54 percent of the veterans seen at a
veterans' facility in Florida in 2005 were 65 or older.
Crist is among many state leaders who say one of the few benefits of the
recent national publicity surrounding the poor conditions at the Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington has been to focus legislators'
attention on veterans' needs.
"It is awfully important that we give them the very best treatment
possible," Crist said.
jt.rushing@jacksonville.com
, (850) 224-7515
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Larry Scott --
