Excellence Is Our Objective

DMAVA is in the people business. I recently marked 100 days since I assumed the duties and responsibilities of Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs (DCVA). I wish to extend a tremendous thank you to the individuals who have taken the time to meet with me and share their feedback on how we can sustain and improve the programs and services that we provide to Garden State Veterans and their families. These actions should be guided by The Adjutant General’s priorities of people, readiness, modernization, and organizational development and reform.

That first priority means acknowledging the efforts of the state and federal personnel who work daily to support our communities. Our success or failure is measured by our collective ability to deliver programs and services to the populations that we serve. I joined our organization in a uniform in 2010 and as a civilian employee in 2018. My new role as DCVA reinforces my deeply held conviction that our team comes to work each day committed to serving those who served and the people who love them.

This begins by ensuring that Veterans and families engage with an organization characterized by safety, openness, respect, and trust. As Deputy Commissioner, I expect that our decisions and actions will foster a climate of mutual respect regardless of an individual’s race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex/gender (including pregnancy), marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, familial status, religion, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or disability. There will be zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment, or sexual assault.

We serve New Jersey’s heroes. The quality of our work and the pride that we take in our work should reflect that. We support one another. There will be times when we are called upon to assist in the completion of projects outside of our normal duties. I expect leaders at every level to build teams of competence, mutual trust, and shared understanding.

Whether caring for a resident at a Veterans Memorial Home or helping someone secure federal benefits, our team will be helpful and courteous in our interactions with others. We will make ourselves available to provide assistance and satisfy requests from Veterans, family members, Veterans Service Organizations, and our public and private partners. The first answer to a question should not be no. Within the boundaries of state and federal regulations, and understanding that time is always a factor, our team will work to identify alternate solutions and facilitate a satisfactory outcome to every engagement.

For those we serve, placing a priority on people means taking decisive action to foster resilience and reduce suicides. This is my personal and professional objective. As Co-Chair of the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families, my work will be guided by two principles: complementing, not recreating, the noble work already being done by our stakeholder partners (i.e., U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars) and bringing together leaders in the veterans and behavioral health spaces to identify challenges and develop courses of action to overcome them. For example, DMAVA is in the process of awarding grant funding that will promote connectedness in the Veterans Community through Mental Health First Aid Training for Veterans Service Organizations and others.

While the above is a good start, when it comes to reducing suicide, I want us to do more. I welcome ideas and input from all.

Especially in the area of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare services, reliable and accessible transportation continues to be one of the chief challenges for New Jersey Veterans. This is a complex problem that involves county, state, and federal government. In addition to the selfless and important work of Veterans Service Organizations, DMAVA currently provides funding to county governments to provide no cost transportation.

Earlier this year, the Veterans Benefits Bureau published and disseminated a guide to serve as a point of entry for county administered transportation. In the coming months, I would like our team to assume a greater leadership role in developing solutions to this challenge. At the direction of The Adjutant General, we will convene a Veterans Transportation Working Group to identify immediate and long term courses of action to improve services and assistance to some of the most vulnerable Veterans among us.

Excellence is our objective. Our actions will determine our success. This begins with clarity of purpose, pride in our work, and a deep understanding of our mission. It all starts with people. There are few better missions we can be assigned to. 

May 6, 2023

1:30pm - 3:30pm

108th WING RETIREMENT BRIEFING

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

33-24 Charles Blvd
McGuire AFB, NJ 08562

DMAVA will have a Veterans Service Officer present to help and assist any Veteran or family member.

For more information contact the Veterans Benefits Bureau at vbb@dmava.nj.gov.

Female duo are NJ National Guard’s Best Warriors

SSG Bruce Daddis | 444th MPAD | May 1, 2023

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst - When the candidates took the field for the New Jersey National Guard’s Best Warrior Competition on April 25th, no female Soldier had ever won the competition before.

Two days later, Spc. Laura Grieco (pictured on right), a signal support systems specialist assigned to Headquarters Co., 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat team, and Sgt. 1st Class Antonella Catalioti, a recruiter assigned to Recruiting and Retention Battalion, made history and took home the top enlisted and top non-commissioned officer awards, respectively.

Read Full Story

Military Funeral Honors

A Military Funeral Honors team from the New Jersey Army National Guard provided plane-side honors for Staff Sergeant James Rotunno at Newark Liberty International Airport on April 21, 2023.

Staff Sergeant Rotunno, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, was killed during World War II and was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on September 27, 2022.

Funeral services were held the following day with burial in North Arlington, NJ.

177th Fighter Wing

U.S. Air Force F-16C+ Fighting Falcons, from the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, teamed up with F-15C Eagles from the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 175th Wing of the Maryland Air National Guard to participate in "Devilsmoke", a two-day dogfighting competition here at the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base. 

Dogfighting is one of a pilot's core skillsets, which all fighter pilots must master before progressing to any other mission.

"It's intense... max performing the jet and yourself, sometimes pulling 9G's while twisting your skull all around the cockpit," said Lt. Col. Michael Long, 119th Fighter Squadron commander. "Each type of jet flies differently, so dissimilar events like this gets our pilots out of the F-16 versus F-16 mindset. It's a competition, but it is also fantastic training. We're hoping to make this an annual event."

177th Communications Squadron

When it comes to innovation, the 177th Communications Squadron leads the charge across the Air National Guard with ShadowProject, a home-grown program wielding automated scripts and databases, which offset and streamline the vulnerability management workload and provide a host of additional force-multiplier tools for Comm focal points and network managers.

ShadowProject creators, from left, Mr. Stephen Hillmann, Senior Airman Brian Driscoll, and Mr. Sebastian Zelazny, led by Maj. Richard Ryan (not pictured), have lifted the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard to the highest rating of cyber-risk readiness, leading every other unit in the Air National Guard.

Read Full Story

Join Our Team

VSOs at Columbus Farmers Market 

DMAVA Veteran Service Officers (VSOs) Trejen Strickland, left, and Michele Thomas discussed Veterans benefits at our outreach booth at the Columbus Farmers Market and Flea World, in Columbus, NJ, on April 20, 2023.

More than 100 Veterans received valuable Veterans benefit information or assistance in filing claims.

Our Outreach Van and VSOs will be at the Columbus Farmers Market on scheduled Thursdays from May through October. VSOs will also be at events and locations around the state. Find out if we will be in your area by viewing the Veterans Outreach Schedule.

NJ Veterans' Benefits Hotline

888-865-8387

vbb@dmava.nj.gov

Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, D.O., The Adjutant General of New Jersey and Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, spoke before the New Jersey Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee at the State House Annex in Trenton, New Jersey, April 19, 2023.

View Images

The New Jersey National Guard Joint Staff hosted members of the State Emergency Management Program Stakeholders (SEMPS) meeting group at the Lawrenceville National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, April 25, 2023.

The briefing gave a rundown on the operational capabilities of the New Jersey National Guard within the state.

View Images

#VetResources

We hope you enjoy receiving our newsletter and find it both educational and engaging. If you have questions about our department, our programs or your benefits, please visit our website at nj.gov/military to get contact information.

We welcome feedback and comments from the public regarding the newsletter. If you would like to contribute with an item of interest to our subscribers, please email us your proposal. Contact the newsletter team at outreach@dmava.nj.gov.

To view previous editions of our newsletter, please visit the DMAVA archives.