Florida Chapter NCVA

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!

Things are finally beginning to look a little better as related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are coming along albeit slowly and with its share of confusion and frustration. I was finally able to win the Pasco county website free-for-all and get appointments for both the first and second shots. My wife however, not yet 65 years of age, has not been so lucky. Some of our members have had luck or heard about other having better luck using the VA.

Our treasurer John Koval has had both his vaccinations at the VA and Jack Maher was able to get shots for his son at the Tampa VA with no wait. The VA website at this link has some good information. Jack just drove in to the Tampa facility and was able to get the vaccination. They are located at 13000 Bruce B Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL 33612 and their phone number is (813) 972-2000. The Tampa VA facility has a very good website at this link. Check the VA in your area if you are having difficulty getting the vaccinations.

Jack and I will start working on our FLNCVA 2021 reunion in June. We will probably schedule it for an early October time-frame. I’ll publish more information as we start nailing down the details. The national NCVA reunion will be in Ft. Worth, TX this year. Details are on the NCVA website at this link.

The Winter 2021 Cryptolog listed a number of Floridians who have passed away in their “In Memoriam” section. Four of them were members of our FLNCVA:

Everyone stay safe and get your vaccinations when you are able. Hope to see you all this fall.

Joe Martfeld, President

The 2020 FLNCVA Reunion was canceled by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors via e-mail on June 12, 2020. COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Florida as are the number of deaths from it. This plus the fact that the vast majority of our members are over 65 and therefore in the vulnerable category led to the board’s decision. The current directors will hold their offices until the 2021 reunion. In the mean time, everyone please be safe and follow the Federal and State guidelines for COVID-19 containment. We want to see everyone at the 2021 reunion!

Joe Martfeld
2020 FLNCVA President

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The 2019 Reunion in Altamonte Springs is in the history books but those who attended had a great time. Master Chief Penny Tardona gave an talk that was inspirational to all of us, but especially to our 2019 Sailor of the Year, CTN3 Jasoda Sukhram.

There are some big changes that were approved during the meeting and more will be coming out about this a little later. The short version is that we decided to downsize our Board of Directors to three positions and elect all of them for 3 year terms. These changes will take effect next year. Stay tuned for more info on these happenings!