U.S. Sen. Rick Scott made a campaign stop in southwest Escambia County yesterday at Warrior Beer Company. The theme was supporting our military veterans, which made the brewery the ideal spot for the rally.
Owner Gary Hefner said, “The mission behind Warrior Beer Company is to have a safe space for veterans to come with their families and comrades, to be able to have a beer, enjoy one another in a very safe space.”
He said his brewery doesn’t endorse candidates. “But we will endorse candidates that do the right thing for our veterans. That’s what this property’s about. And we want veterans’ initiatives to be first and forefront. And we’ll be behind them, and we’ll stand behind them. Having Senator Scott here with us is awesome because he is a proponent for veterans, and we believe in that mission.”
Sen. Scott explained how he got involved in veterans’ issues. “It’s really because of my adopted father. I’m blessed I had… I don’t know my natural father, but my adopted father was one of the 3,000 people who did all four combat jumps through the 82nd Airborne.
He continued, “Actually, I didn’t really know how difficult his life was; I did a little bit growing up. But there are very few people that survived all four of those jumps. Just in Normandy, 17% of his company died, and then after those for jumps, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. And so many people died in those battles, but my father, who had completed a sixth-grade education, he loved this country, and he loved serving.”
Scott joined the Navy at 18 during the Vietnam War. “What we learned is, at that time, Americans were not supportive of our military. I couldn’t wear my uniform off base. When I got out, it didn’t help you that you served. It actually hurt you that you served because the Vietnam War, as you know, was not a popular war.”
Before he was sworn in as governor, four groups of National Guard members were sent overseas every year, and 30% of them didn’t have a job. The economy was bad at the time. He said, “We had just under, I think, 11% unemployment. These young men and women were coming back, and they could not find a job.”
Scott said, “One thing I wanted to do is, by the end of my term, make sure this was the state that everybody wanted to serve in, the state that everybody wanted to retire in, and that veterans and active military knew they were going to get treated better here than anyplace else.”
The Florida Legislature supported his efforts. “We made it easy for veterans. Whether you were from Florida or not, you got in-state tuition. But there were a variety of things. We looked at what every other state was doing and tried to do one up on every state. So by the time we finished, we were fully the #1 state you wanted to serve in and the #1 state you wanted to retire in if you were in the military.”
Since his election to the Senate in 2018, Scott has served on the bipartisan Armed Services Committee.
“We’ve been able to help our military bases, help our active-duty military, get them pay raises, get them better healthcare. We’ve had housing issues we’ve dealt with,” he said. “But we still have issues with the VA (Veterans Administration). It’s a wonderful group of people that work at the VA, but the processes… It’s like a black hole.”
He praised his staff and their work with veterans. “Anybody that has any issues with the VA or any other veterans’ issue or active-duty issue, that’s what we work on. So, I try to make sure that Florida continues to be the place. The truth is, we’ve got to make sure America is the place you want to serve in the military.”
