Stories of Service: Col. Len Loving helping veterans get back on their feet
Five Star Veterans Center, which was once an old nursing home, helps veterans suffering from a number of mental health issues. Author: Anthony Austin Updated: 5:46 AM EDT May 24, 2021
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Retired Colonel Len Loving and his four-legged secretary, Athena, walk the hallways of Five Star Veterans Center where he serves as CEO. Not only do we need a place like this, but we need more of them, Ret. Col. Len Loving said.
The center, which was once an old nursing home, helps veterans suffering from a number of mental health issues, like PTSD, get back on their feet.
90 MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA – U.S. Marines with II Marine Expeditionary Force began Dynamic Cape 21.1, a live maritime prepositioning exercise that includes an Operational Logistics Exercise with a subsequent final exercise event, taking place from Apr. 7-28, 2021.
As a part of DC 21.1, 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade, II MEF, and Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, are participating in an OPLOGEX taking place across the eastern United States.
Locations hosting the exercise include Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, Wilmington, North Carolina; and Blount Island, Florida.
During the OPLOGEX, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps forces will transport materiel and equipment on rail and ship and conduct pier-side offload of the USNS Williams at Blount Island Command, Florida. II MEF will also maintain an element in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to command and control the offload while rehearsing the c
The U.S. Marine Corps Support Facility on Blount Island is getting a new police station and emergency operations center designed to be able to withstand hurricanes and sea-level rise on the man-made spill island in the St. Johns River.
The Blount Island Command refurbishes equipment and resupplies forces for military operations across the globe. Police tasked with protecting the center are now sharing space with the base s sandwich shop in an outdated 1970s-era metal building.
“With the threat of destructive weather here on the island, because it’s a federal facility it’s not like you can close up shop and disappear, said Jim Hooks, the base s deputy commander. Somebody’s got to be out here to protect the federal property and all the weaponry we’ve got around this island.”