160,000 women veterans in Florida

Florida Hosts Women Only Vets Conference

WGCU
By BOBBIE O'BRIEN
February 21, 2014

The Florida Department of Veterans Affairs top legislative priority is getting in-state tuition for out-of-state student veterans.

Another priority - not tied to Tallahassee - is reaching out to the 160,000 women veterans in Florida. So, the state is hosting its first ever conference at Bay Pines VA Regional Office in St. Petersburg specifically for women veterans.

Alene Tarter, Larri Gerson, Cynthia Brown, Jacquelyn Consentino, La Sonda Isidore, Sherrel Pinson, Chava Grier; All those women are veterans. They wore the uniform, saluted the flag, served the country. And there are 160,000 more of them living and working in Florida.

Alene Tarter is director of benefits and assistance for the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs based at Bay Pines.

"We have so many women veterans in our state", Tarter said. "Many of them don’t even realize they’re veterans. They feel they’re not recognized as veterans."

One such veteran is Larri Gerson who supervises the claims section for Florida veterans.

"In my situation, I didn’t know I was a veteran for 25 years because I didn’t grow up in a military family", said Gerson. "For me, it wasn’t until I came here working at the Florida department of veterans affairs that I realized how important it is to have that knowledge."

So, the Florida VA is sponsoring its first ever women’s veterans conference to spread the word about available benefits, services and support. Learning about benefits is not a top priority for most women when they transition out of the service. Just ask 20-year Navy veteran Cynthia Brown.

read more here