BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Congressman Bill Posey and famed aviator Barrington Antonio Irving spoke with Brevard County students about the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education this morning at Bayside High School in Palm Bay and then at Florida Tech in Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon.

The daylong event was coordinated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. (MHIA) as part of their “Dream & Soar” program which will feature an inspirational talk by famed Florida aviator Barrington Irving.

Irving has presented his inspirational message to more than 13,000 students across the United States over the last five years.

“In order for our nation to lead the world and remain competitive, our young people must be prepared to meet the challenges of the future,” said Congressman Bill Posey. “Florida’s Space Coast has been at the forefront of American innovation for many years and getting students excited about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is the key to maintaining our edge.”

Congressman Posey continued, “Furthermore, I commend Barrington Irving for his dedication to inspiring young people everywhere to take on the role of becoming the next generation of scientists, engineers and professors.”

“I believe that this event will allow me to get my educational and motivational message out to the students at Brevard County Schools and Florida Tech,” said Irving.

“I want to show them that pursuing a career in this exciting industry and understanding the value of a STEM education can enable them to realize their dreams – just as I did.”

Congressman Bill Posey is a fiscal conservative, and we have respected his occasional votes against spending compromises. Posey’s numerous votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act matched his campaign positions in 2012, when we endorsed him.

But FLORIDA TODAY blasted Posey for his votes last fall to link them — to defund Obamacare as a condition for keeping the U.S. government running. The tactic risked harm to Brevard’s space workers and programs, we said. The resultant government shutdown sent thousands home on furlough, most without back pay.

Why did Posey, who represents all of Brevard County, vote that way? I asked the Republican from Rockledge to explain.

Question: You actually made a series of votes linking Obamacare to the budget resolution. Explain.

Posey: Well, the first issue was to defund Obamacare, and that didn’t work.

The next issue was to delay the individual mandate. You would have thought we were trying to assassinate the pope, with the outrage over the whole thing. The president later decided to do that, and he didn’t even have the authority to do it.

Finally, it boiled down to … the president and Congress should be subject to it with no subsidies. And they said “no.”

People say, “Well, you shut down the government over those silly little things.” And I loved on that angry woman’s show, Rachel Maddow, that showed a chart that said, “Here’s what the Republicans asked for.” And it showed about 20 things. And “here’s what Republicans got: A big zero.”

Republicans were always portrayed — including by you guys — as the party unwilling to compromise. If there was a compromise, we would have gotten something. We got nothing.

There were surveys taken that said if the government shut down, the Republicans would get blamed for it. So (Democrats) wanted to shut it down so Republicans would get blamed for it.

Q:In this case, you’re right. It was Democrats who said they would never budge on defunding Obamacare.

Posey: On anything.

Q: But that’s why it looked in advance like this would be a disaster. And there was so much in Brevard riding on it.

Posey: How long do you deal with a terrorist? Do you like dealing with bullies?

They said, “It’s our way or the highway … Or we’re going to have a shutdown and you’re going to get blamed for it and voted out of office.”

And you know what? I don’t fear that. I don’t fear getting voted out of office for doing what I think is important and right. And a lot of my colleagues felt the same way.

We gave them plenty of opportunity to have an honorable way out and a compromise, and they agreed to zero, Matt, zero.

Slavery is back in Brevard County, and experts say it’s happening more than most people think.

In known cases, it looks like this:

• A 14-year-old runaway from Cocoa being sold for sex in dingy hotel rooms and warned not to tell anyone. Or else.

• An Ethiopian woman who told Melbourne police she escaped from her job as a maid. She said the family that brought her to the U.S. did not pay her nor give her food as promised. She claimed she was abused.

• Twenty-four teens and preteens, sandwiched into a van with half as many seatbelts. On each others’ laps. On the floor. Sent into strange communities without food or water to sell cheap goods so their bosses could pocket the profit. A tragedy in the making, officials called it.

“Sooner or later, if we don’t stop this we’re going to have a child dead on the streets,” said Sue Aboul-Hosn, a human trafficking and missing child specialist for the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Hundreds of people gathered at Devereux Florida’s Viera campus this week for an educational seminar, held this month because January has been designated Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

United States Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., headlined the symposium. Posey is a co-sponsor of the Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Human Trafficking Act, which would direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to look at successful prevention programs and publish a report of “best practices” that agencies and private entities can use on local and regional levels.

“It’s going to be a real-time information exchange that should really be beneficial, helping people speak to each other and connecting the dots to fight this,” he said.

Traffickers exploit another person for labor or sexual purposes, often pocketing a big profit. Officials say human trafficking – what they call modern day slavery – is the second-most lucrative criminal enterprise, behind drug trafficking and ahead of weapons dealing, generating $34 billion revenue each year.

The victims are most often young men or women, but can be adults, said Dr. Anthony Davis, who leads the East Coast Human Trafficking Task Force in Brevard County. That can be children trying to buy sneakers, or people from third-world countries who end up as indentured servants. Traffickers often prey on people of low social and economic status; children who are runaways or lonely, for example. The victims can appear submissive and may suffer injuries or be malnourished.

Devereux offers the county’s only residential treatment program for youth who have been sexually exploited for commercial gain. Treatment coordinator Erin Wirsing hears stories of victims who are vulnerable, or who are tricked or threatened by people who appear to care for them. Eventually, the victims feel like they owe something.

She recalled a girl who came to Devereux at 16 after being exploited. The girl had been in and out of group homes and met a man who offtered her food and a place to stay in exchange for sex.

“I heard her tell stories,” Wirsing said. “She went to the mall with this man, and he was trying to get other girls to do it, too. She got mad, but went home with him anyway. In her mind it was better to go with this guy and have her ‘freedom’ than go back to the group home.”

Human trafficking cases have been largely absent from the local justice system as law enforcement works to understand a crime where the victims sometimes do not know they’re being exploited. But police, service providers and community organizations are stepping forward to increase awareness and, they hope, crack down.

Davis said areas like Orlando, Tampa and Miami have taken a more proactive approach to cracking down on human trafficking. As a result, traffickers move into other areas, such as Brevard, where there is not as tight a watch.

In October, Palm Bay police collared two men in what officials say is the area’s first case of child “sales crews,” a form of labor trafficking. Children as young as 12 – participants in a group called Teens Against Drugs and Alcohol – were carted like cattle from Orlando, sent door-to-door peddling Dollar Store merchandise at one for $9 or two for $15. They had been in Brevard County before; and the leaders had skirted prosecution in Pinellas County years prior. They continued their enterprise despite labor law violations and fines from the state.

Officials hope the arrests were a wake-up call for the community.

“What happened in Palm Bay with 24 youth, this could happen in any area,” Davis said. “I think now it forces them to say if it can happen in Palm Bay, it can happen in Satellite Beach, Titusville, Cocoa Beach. We have to look at, not when does it come to Brevard, but where is it in Brevard.”

Palm Bay Police Officer Chris Jones has kept in touch with some of the teens.

While the criminal case against the two leaders has yet to unfold, Jones said the arrests were a step toward awareness.

“If I got anything out of this case, it’s Palm Bay citizens calling every day saying, yeah, these kids are out here again,” Jones said. He’s gotten calls from some of the kids who he found in the van four months ago.

“I know for a fact that 20 of the kids aren’t on the street doing this. I want these guys to go to prison, but saving 20 kids’ lives is enough for me.”

MELBOURNE – Congressman Bill Posey described his days growing up along the Indian River Lagoon, catching fish in water so clear he could identify the species from afar.

But on Tuesday, he and other politicians heard Florida Tech scientists describe a dying estuary, blackened with thick, noxious muck.

Politicians and scientists agreed that keeping the public involved in the solutions is critical.

“Never before have I seen the lagoon receive the kind of attention it’s getting right now,” Posey, R-Rockledge, told a group of about 50 Florida Tech scientists, students and local and state government officials. “Our lagoon touches the lives of everyone in this county. It plays, obviously, a vital role in our economy.”

Scientists briefed Posey, as well as several state and local representatives, on FIT’s newly formed Indian River Lagoon Research Institute and its plans on how to restore the estuary.

FIT’s lagoon research institute is a collaboration of the university’s scientists, engineers, coastal resource managers and educators.

“The fact is we’re not going to fix it overnight,” said Kevin Johnson, an associate professor of biology at Florida Tech.

“We need to be able to involve the public.”

Johnson is studying zooplankton, organisms that graze on algae, to determine what role the tiny “grazers” might play in preventing severe algae blooms. One theory is that algae thrived when zooplankton died in harsh cold snaps that preceded a green algae “superbloom” in 2011.

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That bloom was largely responsible for killing an estimated 47,000 acres of seagrass, about 60 percent of the total seagrass area in the central and northern lagoon.

Johnson will collaborate with two other Florida Tech professors who are studying the lagoon’s muck.

In December, FIT professors John Trefry and Ashok Pandit, and Jonathan Martin of the University of Florida, were awarded a contract for $865,000 from the St. Johns River Water Management District to study muck sediment and groundwater in the lagoon.

The two projects bring a total of $1.1 million to Florida Tech’s newly established Indian River Lagoon Research Institute.

Johnson said it’s important to measure baseline conditions in the lagoon, to determine whether countermeasures such as muck dredging and fertilizer ordinances actually improve the water quality.

“You have to have a baseline to measure against,” he said.

Washington (CNN) – New year, same focus. The Republican led House of Representatives, in its first major action of the 2014 session, voted on another bill aimed at Obamacare – this one meant to fix what the GOP views as a serious security problem with the new health care website.

The House Friday passed a bill 291-122 to require the Administration to notify within two days anyone impacted by a security breach on HealthCare.gov, the website where Americans can enroll for insurance coverage.

All House GOP members backed the measure and 67 Democrats crossed the aisle and voted for the bill.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Michigan, pointed to the revelation on Friday morning that 70 million people were hit by a data breach at Target, a top retail store. Upton said his committee heard from senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Service who “expressed serious concerns” about the security of the heath care website before they rolled it out in October.

Democrats countered that those concerns have been addressed, and the GOP bill wasn’t a serious effort to fix the law, but a move to discourage people from using the website to get health insurance.

“This is purely a message bill, that’s all we do these days,” California Democratic Rep Henry Waxman said, “this message is one that is designed to mislead.”

Republicans said protecting American’s personal information was one issue that should get bipartisan support, and the bill simply requires the Administration to own up to any security problems.

“It shouldn’t take an act of Congress for the White House to provide that information, but the lack of transparency surrounding the security of the Obamacare website has proven that’s the case,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement after the vote.

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Aaron Albright, spokesman for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS,) told CNN, “to date, there have been no successful security attacks on Healthcare.gov and no person or group has maliciously accessed personally identifiable information from the site. Security testing is conducted on an ongoing basis using industry best practices to appropriately safeguard consumers’ personal information.”

But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, noted that an outside credit agency warned the website was vulnerable and asked, “why do we wait until there is a data breach?”

New York Democratic Rep Joe Crowley argued the GOP had become “the shutdown party,” citing last fall’s government shutdown and arguing this latest Obamacare vote – one of over 40 in this session of Congress – was an attempt to shutdown the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

In a tweak to the scandal involving Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and the deliberate shutdown of traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, Crowley said, “heck they’re even shutting down bridges in New Jersey.”

The Obama Administration opposed the bill, and put out a statement on Thursday saying it would impose new burdens on the agencies charged with implementing the new health care law and potentially impede any investigation of any data breach.

Hoping to avoid another federal shutdown like the one in October, the Republican-controlled U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to support the budget proposal crafted by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.,on Thursday night.

The budget passed with 332 votes, which included 169 Republicans, a majority of the GOP’s House contingent. The Republican leadership, including U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, supported the budget agreement. Only 94 congressmen opposed the proposal which sets the federal budget at $1.012 trillion and is expected to cut the deficit between $20-23 billion.

In terms of the Florida delegation, most members from the Sunshine State voted to support the agreement.

While some conservative groups opposed the deal, some Republicans who won their seat with help from the tea party movement supported it, including U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla.

“The House acted today in a bipartisan fashion to restore the long-term certainty that hard-working families deserve,” said Southerland on Thursday night. “This common-sense agreement cuts the federal deficit by $23 billion and strengthens the readiness of our military without increasing taxes. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a win for the American people. And by eliminating the possibility of another government shutdown in January, we are now able to keep our focus where it belongs: on improving conditions for job growth and addressing the crippling impact of the disastrous Obamacare rollout.”

“The American people are tired of Washington dysfunction,” Yoho said after the vote. “Legislating from crisis to crisis has caused a trillion-dollar debt and an acceptance of the status quo. This budget resolution offers a path to reduce the deficit and cut spending in a responsible way. Getting back to a regular budgeting process allows us the opportunity to cut spending and root out wasteful programs. I look forward to breaking through the partisan logjam and doing what the American people sent us up here to do—bring back the greatness of America. While not a perfect bill, this is an important first step in bringing our nation back from fiscal calamity.”

Other Florida Republicans who voted for the bill include U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; and U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla.

“While this bipartisan agreement does not please everyone, it does take necessary steps to reduce the deficit without raising taxes or relying on the devastating cuts of sequestration that would endanger our national security,” Crenshaw said on Thursday night. “Now the appropriations process can operate on a clear path toward fulfilling its duty of creating fiscally-responsible appropriations bills that fund every agency of the federal government. Lurching from one budget crisis to another is no way to do business, and this framework adds some welcome certainty into the equation.

“During these budget negotiations, my commitment to our national security did not waver,” Crenshaw added. “I will not stand idly by and allow our military to be stripped of the resources it needs to protect us at home and around the globe.”

Most Florida Democrats also supported the bill, including U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla.

Deutch weighed in on Thursday night to explain why he supported the deal.

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“Today, a bipartisan budget agreement passed the House of Representatives that prevents another harmful government shutdown and staves off cuts to NIH research without cutting a dime from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits,” Deutch said. “Yet even as we all agree that protecting our economy from these kind of self-inflicted wounds is a step forward, we must also acknowledge that it fails to address the major economic challenges of our time. Our deficit has shrunk to its lowest level in five years, and yet this deal unnecessarily pockets $20 billion in savings that could have paid for preserving unemployment insurance for millions of Americans struggling with long-term joblessness. Nor does it include the kind of forward-thinking investments in our economy that will create jobs and opportunity for the middle class. With this modest agreement behind us, I hope the 113th Congress will begin taking action on the priorities of the American people, from pro-growth immigration reform to a minimum wage increase to tax reform that creates jobs here at home.”

Included in the 62 Republicans who voted against the deal were U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla.; and U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla.

“This budget deal increases spending now and promises to replace the increases with spending reductions scheduled to occur far into the future,” DeSantis explained on Thursday night. “Because I am doubtful these reductions will materialize and because I promised my constituents I would work to reduce spending, I could not support the deal.

“Furthermore, changes were made to military retirement programs that do not apply to civilian employees or retirees,” DeSantis added. “While veterans will be the first to support fiscal reforms that will avert a debt crisis, it is unfair to apply these changes to current military retirees but to no one else.”

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., was one of 32 Democrats who voted against the proposal.

“This budget deal is better than the status quo and it’s good to see bipartisan cooperation,” Frankel said. “With that said, because of the cuts to Medicare, reduction to military retirement payments and leaving millions of Americans desperate without any source of income because of failure to renew unemployment insurance, I voted no.”

Two members of the Florida delegation—U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla.—did not vote. Radel is currently in rehab after being busted for cocaine possession.

Florida’s two U.S. senators are divided on the budget deal with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., supporting it and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., opposing it.

BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – The Military Affairs Council (MAC) of the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted its Community Service Awards last Wednesday at the DoubleTree By Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 2080 N. Atlantic Avenue on Cocoa Beach.

Those recognized were SFC Michael L. Christian, Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute; 1st Lt. Danielle DePaolis, 5th Space Launch Squadron; and SSgt. Ben Smith, 45th Launch Support Squadron.  Each winner received a plaque, an $83 gift card from Navy Federal Credit Union, a $250 gift card from the Military Affairs Council and a certificate from Congressman Bill Posey.

RECOGNIZING CHARITABLE SUPPORT

This annual event recognized both men and women that are serving on the Space Coast for their contributions of personal time and talents to many non-profit and charitable organizations in Brevard County.

Commanding officers from each of the branches nominated enlisted and non-commissioned personnel for the awards.  There were nineteen nominated. Each of the nominee’s contributions were recognized and received a special commemorative plaque.

The major sponsor of the event was Health First, Inc. Table host sponsors included IAP Worldwide Services, Space Coast Intelligent Solutions, Inc., AT&T, The Boeing Company & Vitas Innovative Hospice Care. VIP Ticket Sponsors were Two Men and a Truck-Brevard, Sales Motivation Solutions, Navy Federal Credit Union, DoubleTree by Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, Government Contracting Resources, Crest Cleaners, Magic Dove Magic Shop, Sam’s Club and Auman Photo Studio.

The Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce was established in 1968 and serves Cape Canaveral, Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Patrick Air Force Base, Port St. John, Rockledge, Palm Shores, Suntree and Viera.

Letter to the Editor

Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, has run a very successful business for many years. He has been a longtime friend and someone who has demonstrated the highest level of integrity in his business and political endeavors.

Posey tried many times to work with Democrats to create a workable health care act. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius kept reminding Republicans that Democrats won the election and blocked them from creating a bipartisan health care program.

Pelosi forced a midnight vote on Obamacare, saying “we have to pass the bill so we can find out what’s in it.”

Therefore, the Democratic Congress, which never read the bill, passed it without a single Republican vote. Where was the liberal news media during all of this?

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More than 65 percent of union members, 79 percent of business owners and 72 percent of the American public does not want Obamacare.

Posey and many of us are asking: If Obamacare is so great and so affordable, why are federal workers, Congress, the Senate and all federal staff exempt from it?

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who worked on the Affordable Care Act, said Obamacare is a “train wreck” and needs to be corrected. Now, former President Bill Clinton is requesting Congress change the law, saying President Obama needs to deliver on his promise that if Americans like their health plans, they can keep them.

Bill Posey, we are fortunate to have you as our congressman. Keep voting and working on behalf of Brevard County and the space program.

The Navy SEAL Muster and Music Festival takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Fort Pierce.

SEALs dedicate statue Saturday
Vietnam rescue memorialized at Muster reunion

Under heavy gunfire from dozens of North Vietnamese soldiers, Navy SEAL Mike Thornton lifted critically injured fellow SEAL Tom Norris onto his shoulders and carried him in the darkness down to the beach and into the surf of the South China Sea.

Inflating Norris’ life jacket, Thornton kept him afloat and breaststroked for about two hours to a support boat after that October 1972 beach-landing firefight near the Cua Viet River. Norris — who had been shot in the head —underwent surgery and endured three years of rehabilitation, but he survived.

Now, this spectacular Vietnam War battlefield rescue will be memorialized in bronze. Saturday, officials will dedicate a 10-foot statue depicting Thornton carrying Norris on his shoulders during the 28th annual Muster reunion at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce.

“It was the only time this century when one Medal of Honor winner was rescued by a person who would eventually get a Medal of Honor for rescuing him,” said Rick Kaiser, executive director of the museum.

Kaiser expects about 10,000 people to attend this weekend’s Muster events, which include a 5K beach race, a music festival, a memorial service and demonstrations of SEAL sniper, parachute and K-9 teams.

The statue was commissioned by former presidential candidate Ross Perot, who is friends with Thornton. The sculptor is Paul Moore of Norman, Okla., who also crafted a Perot-commissioned bronze statue of Gen. Hugh Shelton at the Airborne and Special Operation Museum in Fayetteville, N.C.

This year’s Muster commemorates the 70th anniversary of the original Naval Combat Demolition Unit “frogmen.” In 1943, the military took over portions of Hutchinson Island and established a training base at Fort Pierce.

Here, frogmen trained to penetrate enemy beach obstacles and defenses. Predecessors of today’s SEALs, these elite fighters trained for D-Day, a possible invasion of Japan and other World War II amphibious assaults.

The war ended in 1945, and the Fort Pierce base closed the following year after about 140,000 men had been trained there.

The museum was dedicated on Veterans Day in 1985 at the site of the former Fort Pierce Treasure Museum, and active and retired SEALs and their families from across the United States have gathered for annual Muster reunions ever since.

Viera resident Amir Pishdad is a retired Army chief warrant officer who has volunteered at the museum since 2004, manning the front desk, photographing events and serving as tour guide. His son, Amir Pishdad Jr. of San Diego, is a retired SEAL lieutenant commander who served from 1973-1996.

The elder Pishdad has attended the past nine Musters with three generations of relatives.

“It’s basically to get together and socialize and have a good time. Socialize, talk about the past and support the museum,” Pishdad said.

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“It’s a family affair for us, because we believe in the cause. Freedom is not free unless someone does it for you — you’ve got to pay for freedom,” he said.

In July, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, presented Vietnam veteran Jack Proctor a Bronze Star during a ceremony at the museum. Proctor, 71, who lives in Cocoa, was honored for helping transport two seriously wounded American soldiers to an airbase in August, 1971.

The museum also operates the Trident House, a three-bedroom riverfront home in Sebastian used by families of SEALs who were killed in combat, injured SEALs and other personnel.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638
or rneale@floridatoday.com.

Follow Rick on Twitter: @rickneale1

A group of Puerto Rican veterans gained a major victory in their quest for a Congressional Gold Medal as 15 additional members of the House of Representatives agreed to co-sponsor a bill in favor of their push.

Three Democrats and 12 Republicans added their support to the Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Act, which was introduced earlier this spring by Representatives Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR) and Bill Posey (R-FL). Its companion bill in the Senate was introduced in June by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and has 18 of the necessary 67 co-sponsors.

The bills would award the Congressional Gold medal to members of the 65th Infantry Regiment “Borinqueneers,” who comprised the largest, longest-standing, and only active-duty segregated Latino military unit in U.S. history. Similar actions have already been taken for the famed Tuskegee Airmen and other segregated U.S. military units

“We want to highlight the courageous actions they took,” Frank Medina, the president of the Boriqueeneers Congressional Gold Medal Alliance, told Fox News Latino earlier this year. “It’s comparable to any other U.S. soldier.”

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While many veterans of the 65th Infantry are highly decorated – such as Silver Stars, Purple Hearts and distinguished service crosses – the Congressional Gold Medal would be awarded to all veterans of the regiment, Medina said.

“The Congressional Gold Medal will be the highest award granted by Congress to a segregated Hispanic unit,” he added.

The alliance not only wants to spur Congress to award the medal to the Puerto Rican veterans, but also to raise awareness for the adversity the soldiers faced on the battle field and upon return to civilian life.

“They served their country and then they got back to Puerto Rico to find that they don’t have the same status as other soldiers,” said Javier Morales, the president of the 65th Infantry Veterans Association.

A 65th Infantry veteran, whose brother was wounded in Vietnam by a claymore mine, Morales now spends his time traveling around his home island, visiting with other veterans and hearing their concerns.

Besides the lack of any formal recognition from Congress, Morales said, many veterans have not been given the proper care and benefits that other soldiers received when retiring from active duty.

“Some don’t have benefits. They were wounded, they’re suffering from PTSD and they need help,” he said. “The treatment we received when we got back was horrible.”