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Governor Phil Murphy delivered his seventh annual budget address on February 27, 2024, outlining spending priorities for Fiscal Year 2025. |
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From the Commissioner |
FY 2025 Budget Proposal
New Jersey is doing more for state-delivered Veterans programs and services than we ever have. Yesterday, Governor Philip D. Murphy delivered his seventh annual budget address to the legislature. The Governor introduced a $55.9 billion spending plan that includes a proposed surplus of $6.1 billion and redirects nearly 74% of the total budget back to communities in the form of grants-in-aid for property tax relief, social services, and higher education, as well as State aid to schools, community colleges, municipalities, and counties.
From my vantage point, the proposed budget includes historic investments to New Jersey Service Members, Veterans, and their families.
The Governor proposes an allocation of $21 million to modernize the Menlo Park and Paramus Veterans Homes to enhance their ability to prevent and contain future infectious disease outbreaks. Specifically, this investment provides the state cost share to complement a 65% federal match that will fund the conversion of resident rooms from dual occupancy to single occupancy consistent with nationwide long-term care best practices. In addition, the Governor’s request includes critical funding to upgrade beds and medical equipment at the Menlo Park, Paramus, and Vineland Veterans Memorial Homes.
This builds upon last year’s budget that enabled the implementation of electronic medical records systems along with salary and wage increases across the three Veterans homes. These increases are competitive with private sector long-term care facilities and reflect the Murphy Administration’s commitment to attracting and retaining high quality talent to provide care to the Veterans, Veteran Spouses, and Gold Star Families who call these facilities home.
The Governor’s budget translates values into action through a bold, interagency effort to eliminate veteran homelessness over the next two years. Our goal is functional zero. That means that all existing homeless Veterans are housed, and any newly homeless Veterans will be housed within 30 days. The funding of more than $30 million supports interventions and long-term investments to get the 993 sheltered and 174 unsheltered homeless Veterans into stable housing and provide short-term services and long-term support. This initiative reflects our state’s deeply held commitment to functionally end veteran homelessness in New Jersey.
These historic investments yield both tangible and intangible returns. One data point that demonstrates this – in 2023, State of New Jersey Veterans Service Officers secured more than $129 million in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs initial benefit awards for eligible Veterans and their survivors. That money helps our fellow citizens and our local economy. These strides would not be possible without the support of the Governor, the Legislature, New Jersey Veterans service organizations, and the people who work on the front lines each day helping our community.
This budget sets the foundation for critical support to our Garden State heroes and those who love them. |
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Thank you, as always, for your interest in DMAVA.
We invite you to share ideas, events and feedback. Please email our team at outreach@dmava.nj.gov.
Major General Lisa J. Hou, D.O. The Adjutant General & Commissioner |
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Multiple Dates and LocationsFree Eight-Hour Training Sessions
Mental Health First Aid Training
Learn How to Support Veterans
Intended for community organizations that interact with Service Members, Veterans, and their families at the local level, but is open for all interested participants.
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DMAVA is sponsoring or will participate in the events below. A DMAVA Veterans Service Officer will be present at many of these events. Please check details to confirm. |
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We add new events to our calendar on a daily basis so please bookmark and check back often. |
| View Full Calendar |
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 | Live Fire Exercise
Soldiers of Charlie Battery, 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery Regiment, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard, conduct a live fire exercise utilizing the M777 howitzer on February 16, 2024 at Fort Bliss, Texas. The 44th IBCT is conducting training exercises at multiple sites on Fort Bliss.
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 | RQ-11 Raven
Soldiers assigned to the 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard, perform training on the RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial system on February 17, 2024 at Fort Bliss, Texas. View Images |
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RQ-7 ShadowSoldiers of Delta Co., 104th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard, launched the AAI RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle on February 19, 2024 at McGregor Base Camp, New Mexico.
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 | Sling Load
On February 22, 2024, Charlie Battery, 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery Regiment conducted sling load training with the help of 2nd Battalion (General Support), 501st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, in the vicinity of the Dona Ana Training Complex at Fort Bliss, Texas. Soldiers from Charlie Battery rigged their M777A2 155mm Howitzers and attached them to CH-47F Chinook Helicopters.
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 | Mounted Live Fire Exercise
Soldiers of Delta Co., 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard, performed a mounted live fire exercise with AH-64 Apache helicopter support from the 1-501st Attack and Reconnaissance Battalion, at Fort Bliss, Texas on February 25, 2024. |
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Join Our Team |
100% Free College Tuition
Bonuses up to $20,000
Student Loan Repayment |
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The February 2024 edition of the Veterans Journal is now available. |
| Get New Edition |
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 | Nancy Marty and Cornelious Jones |
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Nancy Marty and Resident, Mr. Cornelious Jones, talk about their relationship and the love they have for where they live and work in the Veterans Memorial Home at Vineland.
Cornelious is a 94-year-old WWII Navy Veteran and Nancy has served those who reside at the Vineland Home for 19 years. Watch Video |
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State Medals Ceremony | The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs held a State Medal Ceremony at the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City, NJ on February 23, 2024.
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 | SMS Alerts - Text "NJVets" to 78015
Opt-in now to receive SMS Alerts from DMAVA! Text "NJVets" to 78015 or scan the QR code above and send. You will be immediately opted-in to receive alerts and important messages from the Division of Veterans Services.
This service is provided free of charge, however, carrier messaging and data rates may apply. To opt-out at any time, simply reply “Stop”. |
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Soldier & Family Readiness Team |
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 | Governor's Challenge
On February 26, 2024, stakeholders from around the state came together for a full-day workshop as part of the Governor's Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans and Their Families.
Learn more about this initiative and its important work at SaveNJVets.org. |
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In one of the largest-ever expansions of Veteran health care, all Veterans exposed to toxins and other hazards during military service - at home or abroad - will be eligible for VA health care beginning March 5 VA News | February 26, 2024
WASHINGTON - Today, VA announced that all Veterans who were exposed to toxins and other hazards while serving in the military - at home or abroad - will be eligible to enroll directly in VA health care beginning March 5, 2024. This means that all Veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror, or any other combat zone after 9/11 will be eligible to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits. Additionally, Veterans who never deployed but were exposed to toxins or hazards while training or on active duty in the United States will also be eligible to enroll.
As directed by President Biden, this expansion of VA health care eliminates the phased-in approach called for by the PACT Act — meaning that millions of Veterans are becoming eligible for VA health care up to eight years earlier than written into law. This is a critical step forward because Veterans who are enrolled in VA health care are proven to have better health outcomes than non-enrolled Veterans, and VA hospitals have dramatically outperformed non-VA hospitals in overall quality ratings and patient satisfaction ratings. Additionally, VA health care is often more affordable than non-VA health care for Veterans.
VA encourages all eligible Veterans to visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411 to learn more and apply for VA health care beginning March 5. Since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law on August 10, 2022, more than 500,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care.
Read Full News Release |
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VA proposes rule to extend presumed areas of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides, making it easier for exposed Veterans to receive their earned benefits
VA News | February 9, 2024
WASHINGTON - Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a proposed rule outlining plans to expand the locations and time frames for which VA presumes exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides. If this proposed rule becomes final, VA will implement a new presumption of exposure to locations where herbicides were tested, used, or stored outside of Vietnam.
Specifically, this proposed rule would add locations in the United States (full list of US locations where Agent Orange was tested or stored), Canada, and India to the existing presumptives for Agent Orange in Vietnam, Cambodia, Johnson Atoll, Guam, American Samoa, Korea, Laos, and Thailand.
A presumption of exposure means that VA automatically assumes that Veterans who served in certain locations were exposed to certain toxins. Presumptives lower the burden of proof required to receive disability benefits, helping Veterans get the benefits they deserve as quickly as possible. This expansion of presumptives will help Veterans who served in the specified locations receive health care and benefits for certain cancers and chronic conditions.
To be eligible, a Veteran must have served in the identified location(s) during a specific time period and currently have a condition(s) presumptively associated with herbicide exposure.
Read Full News Release |
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In Honor of all those from New Jersey who gave their lives in the fight against terrorism during Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In humble gratitude, we remember their sacrifice. |
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March 3, 2008
Operation Enduring Freedom CPL Steven R. KochU.S. Army
Milltown, New Jersey |
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March 4, 2005
Operation Iraqi Freedom CPT Sean GrimesU.S. Army
Dover, New Jersey |
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"But on the battlefield their feet stood fast, and in an instant at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory."
~ Pericles |
| NJ Fallen Heroes Memorial |
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 | Essex Troop in Washington, D.C. in 1913 |
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February 29, 1780 |
Continental Army Quartermaster General Nathanael Greene wrote from Morristown: “Our provisions are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at command, nor magazine [supply point] to draw from. Money is extremely scarce, and worth little when we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, (two weeks) that we could not forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the expresses.” |
February 29, 1824 |
Arabella Wharton Griffith was born in Somerville. In 1861, Griffith married Francis Channing Barlow, a New York attorney ten years her junior. Barlow rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Union army and when her husband was badly wounded at Antietam in 1862 and at Gettysburg in 1863, Arabella brought him back to Somerville, where she nursed him back to health. In July, 1864, she contacted typhus nursing sick Union soldiers at City Point, Virginia, and died of the disease in Washington on July 27. She was buried in Somerville. |
March 2, 1902 |
Morris “Moe” Berg was born in New York City. Raised in Newark’s Roseville section, Berg became the best baseball player the city ever produced, with a brilliant mind to boot, graduating from Princeton University and Columbia University Law School. He became a major league baseball player and coach, World War II OSS agent and legendary eccentric Roseville character. Berg died in Belleville on May 29, 1972. His last words were “how did the Mets do today?” |
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March 2, 1933 |
President Herbert Hoover signed legislation making George Washington’s headquarters and his Army’s winter camp at Morristown the first National Historical Park in the United States. | March 4, 1913 |
New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the United States. Wilson’s inaugural parade was led by the Essex Troop, a New Jersey National Guard cavalry unit from Newark wearing British-influenced full dress uniforms custom tailored by Brooks Brothers in New York City. | March 9, 1968 |
Rutgers ROTC graduate 1st Lieutenant Jack Jacobs, advisor to a South Vietnamese infantry unit, helped save 14 American and Vietnamese soldiers under heavy enemy fire. Jacobs was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. | March 12, 1822 |
Timothy Webster was born in Newhaven, England. Webster emigrated with his family to Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of eight and lived there until he became a Pinkerton agency detective in 1853. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he served as a Union spy but was discovered, tried, convicted and hanged in Richmond in 1862, the first American executed as a spy since Nathan Hale. |
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 | March 6, 1962
On this day in New Jersey National Guard history...New Jersey and much of the Mid-Atlantic was hit with the "Ash Wednesday" storm of 1962. According to the annual New Jersey Dept. of Defense report of 1962,
"...agencies of the Department became very deeply involved in rescue and relief operations in our shore and other tidal areas during the storm which commenced on 6 March and dealt such tremendous havoc to our coastal areas.
Our State, County, and Local Civil Defense Agencies conducted rescue and relief operations to the extent of their capability and they were immediately reinforced as required by elements of the New Jersey Army National Guard, the Active Coast Guard, Navy, and the 119th Tactical Fighter Squadron, New Jersey Air National Guard.
In all, 351 National Guard personnel using 174 vehicles evacuated approximately 3000 citizens from the shore area on Long Beach Island, Atlantic City and Cape May County. Approximately 200 others were evacuated from the Port Norris - Fortescue area and Keansburg."
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We Are Hiring!
At the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs we take our work in support of Veterans, Servicemembers and their families very seriously. Whether supporting our Veterans with nursing care, transitional housing, or assisting them in navigating access to their Veteran benefits, the Department provides valuable services and can offer rewarding career opportunities to members of the public.
We also have opportunities in facilities management and program management. In addition, we have job openings for members of our military to serve in AGR and Federal Technician roles.
Subscribe to DMAVA Jobs Bulletin to stay updated on job openings.
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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. |
| Contact DMAVA |
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Please email us at outreach@dmava.nj.gov with feedback and comments regarding the newsletter. If you would like to contribute with an item of interest to our subscribers, please email us your proposal.
Visit the DMAVA archives to view previous editions of our newsletter.
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nj.gov/military NJ Department of Military & Veterans Affairs
101 Eggert Crossing Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Privacy Notice
Disclaimer: The appearance of any non-DMAVA information or hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement of the products or services on the part of the New Jersey Department of Military & Veterans Affairs. |
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