STRIP STRI PES
Brevard Veterans News
AVET Project revived to continue helping veterans
For years, every time the military men and women came back from serving overseas, AVET Project was there to welcome them home and offer them help. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American Veterans Empowerment Team (AVET) offered support to departing, deployed and returning troops. I often encountered AVET whenever I went out to cover stories about the military men and women who either lived in Brevard County or were stationed with a military unit here. While there were many volunteers helping, Garren and Kim Cone were the face of AVET. Their mission was to bring awareness to the needs of service men and women and to bring services of assistance, entertainment and counseling. They sometimes went
beyond helping just service members. The Cone’s busiest time was between 2008 and 2016, when most troops were back from war, and it was time to slow down and sort of hang up the AVET hat. “All of us were just exhausted,” said Garren Cone, who also had a radio program called American Warrior Radio. “It wasn’t fun anymore.” However, the calls for help only slowed, they never really stopped. “The demand for service is always
there,” he said. “We always had a heart to serve.” For a few years, I did not hear about AVET. I contacted Garren Cone, an Air Force veteran, when I again heard the organization mentioned several times. Indeed, AVET Project has been revived on a limited basis. It is offering AVET Project Veterans Educational Cruise on Nov 11. The veterans will go on a threeday Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas, during which time they will attend educational workshops on board the ship. The workshops will focus on veterans’ benefits, mental health, counseling for those suffering from PTSD, resources on jobs, Medicare, wills and Social Security. The cruise is also open to nonveterans who support the cause. AVET is relying on sponsors and
donations to pay for some veteran families to go on the cruise. Among the major sponsors are Brandon Lape of Exp Realty and KelTec weapons. AVET Project is a nonprofit organization. Garren Cone is a VA accredited claims agent, who also operates AVET Appeals for veterans’ benefits on a fee basis. For information, contact info@avetproject.org or visit www.avet-project.org Cruise boarding starts at 10:30 a.m. and departs at 4 p.m. Nov. 11 — Veterans Day — from Port Canaveral and returns about 8 to 10 a.m. Nov. 14. To book the cruise, call 800-4653595, option #4; Group 7946642. Reservations can also be made online at https://tinyurl.com/59h5paa3, then email reservation number of info@avetproject.org. SL
Veterans of the Navy and the sea continue a life of sailing BY MARIA SONNENBERG Talk about sea legs. The ocean has always played a part in Andy and Laura Petruska’s life. In fact, they met because of a boat. Navy/U.S. Merchant Marine career man Andy Petruska served aboard nine warships, commanding three, and also commanded five Navy oceanographic ships. After raising two children as a single mom, Laura learned to sail, and eventually become a captain by crewing on boat delivery assignments across the Gulf of Mexico and in offshore races to Mexico. Mutual friends thought the two should meet. Andy Petruska sent her a photo of his boat and his Navy bio. Laura responded with an image of her boat. “Within a year, we were married on a boat,” Andy Petruska said. When he returned to sea for a living, this time as master of Navy-
owned, civilian-crewed oceanographic ships, he noticed the vessels were short of radio officers and told Laura, who in turn retired from a 20-year teaching career to go back to school to — you guessed it — to train as a radio officer.
“In the course of eight years at sea, there were pirates, Iranian gunboats and sandstorms at sea when you could not see the bow of the ship.” —Andy Petruska
The couple became ships passing in the night, literally, as their assignments took them in different directions, but the issue was resolved when they were
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Andy and Laura Petruska continue to pursue their passion to sail.
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