Veterans & Homelessness

In the midst of the Main Library's art exhibit on homelessness and perceptions of poverty, JPL's Arts & Culture department--partnering with Changing Homelessness--hosted an event in Jax Makerspace for Built for Zero the evening of November 13, 2019.
 

Built for Zero is a national organization committed to helping local communities fight chronic homelessness amongst veterans. The Northeast Florida chapter’s goal is to reach “functional zero” (reducing the number of veterans experiencing homelessness to an amount that is less than or equal to the monthly housing replacement) by January 2020.  (We understand they are close to meeting that goal at this juncture.)

A panel of local and national leaders including Dawn Gillman, Executive Director of Changing Homelessness; Ju’Coby Pittman, Executive Director of Clara White Mission and City Councilman for District 8; Cody Spencer, Sulzbacher Center; and K.O. Campbell, Large City Strategy Lead Built for Zero Community Solutions; spoke to attendees about how functional zero is achieved and answered questions from the community.

Thanks, Jeremy Hall, Jax Makerspace Manager, for providing the article and pictures.

A Day In The Life Of A Recruit

Stacey N. Humphrey, P/T Administrative Assistant in Community Relations and Marketing, responded to our request for stories of JPL veterans' memories, and her participation is appreciated. She also sent along this quote from Pres. Ronald Reagan (1983):  "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference to this world. The Marines don't have that problem."

 

"September 8, 1991, Parris Island, SC and I stood on yellow footprints thinking about my new life while this man in what seemed to be a dark green toilet bowl seat hat, yelled, screamed, sweating, Marine put me in my place.  'Oh my word, did he just spit on me?'
I thought.  All I could think was 'Man, he’s so handsome with that chiseled jawline and tight belt around that fit torso.'  But what I didn’t realize was that I was laughing and smiling while I was thinking it!  That Marine drill instructor yelled so loud at me it scared the smile, smirk, grin, and joy off of my face in that same instant.  'Welcome to Parris Island. Your name is now recruit, and your parents don’t exist; only my drill instructors who will train you to be a lean, mean, fighting machine!!'  Unfortunately, I continued to get in trouble for the next three months for laughing and smiling. 

"November 8, 2014, is the United States Marine Corps' 239th birthday and I am proud to have served with the best and finest.  OoRah and Semper Fidelis!!!" 

Mark Merritt's 20 Years In The Navy

I’m a Navy veteran of 20 years.  I served from 1977-1997.  In that time I was on 4 different submarines (USS Robert E. Lee SSBN 601, USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN 631, USS Henry L. Stimson SSBN 655 and USS West Virginia SSBN 736).  I served in Norfolk Virginia, Kings Bay Georgia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and New London, Connecticut.  We forward deployed from Holy Loch Scotland on the Grant and Guam on the Robert E. Lee.  I made 15 patrols and several other non-noteworthy trips.  My longest one time stint underwater was about 85 days, most of it north of the Arctic Circle (this was in 1988 I think.) 

 These were all strategic nuclear missile submarines meaning we were on “alert” status underway and part of the strategic deterrent to any party desiring to use nuclear weapons against the United States.  My role was to ensure that the missile systems performed satisfactorily and to execute any launch order if received.  Of course, we never have launched; you would surely know it if we did.  We didn’t go to many foreign ports as most countries didn’t want us around much.  No one much likes nuclear armed submarines in their back yard! 

 

I’m proud of the time I spent in the Navy.  I met many fine people and we kept the peace, which was our goal.  It’s not really humorous, just a lot of work keeping the ship clean and in working order.  Certainly some days were better than others, but we stuck together and got the job done.  We always made sure that each submergence was followed at some point by a surfacing action. 

 

The first picture below is of the Grant (SSBN 631).  They all look about like this; I could spell out details but that isn’t important. 

 

This picture below shows the business end of our role, the missiles.  The one pictured here, a Trident C-4 Backfit was about 64,000 pounds in weight, 3 stage solid propellant and could go more than 4,000 miles to it’s target and deliver several warheads at different locations.  A truly fearsome weapon.  Each boat could carry 16 missiles like this except the West Virginia, a newer Trident boat that could carry 24 missiles.  Getting these missiles loaded, tested, ready for flight and executing the launch order were my prime jobs. 

  

 We applaud your many contributions to this country, Mark Merritt; not to mention your untold hours of searching for ways to keep JPL's head above water for several years as JPL's Deputy Director/Administrative Servicies.  It's hard to beat a faithful man to his duties.

Veterans Day - Take A Look At Where Some Vets Are

Look through the eyes of Capt. Steven Ellison, M.D., U.S. Army and pay a visit with some of the survivors of our wars. There's a link below with a few pictures and brief comments by Capt. Ellisen that have to be seen to really appreciate who these veterans are and where they are now.

http://jaxpubliclibrary.org/lib/Veterans_Observation_by_Capt_Steven_Ellison_MD_102813.pdf


We salute our own JPL veterans:

Mark Merritt
Lawrence Singer
Hazzel Sutton
Noah Thomas
Joel Thorbs
Karen Walker
Garland Wilson