Author: Joe Martfeld

After reviewing the COVID-19 situation in Florida on 29 September our Board of Directors gave the go-ahead to hold our 2021 Reunion. Our 2021 reunion will be held at the Hampton Inn and suites on 10 to 12 December 2021. This is the same location as our last reunion in 2019. An email announcement with full details has already been sent to members for whom we have an email address on file. A regular mail announcement will be going out the week of 11 October to all active members. An announcement with full details has also be posted on our members-only site. You will need a login to access it. You can request access using the contact form found in the “Contact Us” menu to the right of this post.

Please attend this reunion if at all possible. We need to reconstitute our Association after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joe Martfeld
President

For the Good of the Order:

Here is some great news we would like to pass along: The Veterans Administration is waving the entrance fees for the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and standard amenity recreation fees for the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sites are waived for current Military Service-members and their dependents, Veterans and Gold Star Families.

See the VA blog site for more information.

Unfortunately the drastic rise of Delta variant COVID cases in Florida has led the Board of Directors to postpone the 2021 reunion until November or possibly early December. When school starts back later this month we expect cases to rise even further. At the end of September or early October we will re-assess the situation and make a final determination if it will be safe to hold our reunion this year.

I apologize for this change in plans but we feel this is the best approach we can take at this point. Lets hope this new outbreak can be brought under control soon. Please be safe and and check this site for updates on our reunion plans.

Joe Martfeld / president

For the Good of the Order:

An article on the Military Benefits website states: As of January 1, 2020 all service-connected disabled Veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war (POW), and individuals designated as the primary family caregivers of eligible Veterans under the VAs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) can present their VHIC to gain entry to DoD and Coast Guard installations and some commissary stores; and at point of sale at commissaries, exchanges (AAFES, NEXCOM, MCX and CGX) and MWR retail activities to complete their transactions.

See the details on the Veterans Administration website.

The FLNCVA Board of Directors is continuing to plan for the 2021 FLNCVA annual reunion. We have decided it will be held at the Hampton Inn and Suites, 161 North Douglas Avenue in Altamonte Springs again this year from 10 to 12 September based on the reserves training weekend. The reserve’s Training Officer is asking us how we will address COVID concerns so we will follow the CDC guidelines for non-vaccinated people (masks and social distancing). We also highly recommend all attendees be vaccinated as the Delta variant is highly contagious and your health and that of our guests is our overriding concern.

This year’s reunion will be especially important as we try to re-constitute the organization after having to cancel last year’s reunion. Let’s hope the COVID Delta variant doesn’t knock us for another loop this year. Everyone please be safe and get vaccinated if you haven’t already. Hope to see you this fall!