Dear Home Base Florida Family,

On Memorial Day, Monday 26 May 2025, this deeply moving and sacred day, in ceremonies across America to include all of us in Home Base Florida, at our overseas American Military Cemeteries and whenever our active military is currently serving, we honor and remember our men and women who died in military service to our nation, and we honor their Gold Star Families.

For us Veterans, Memorial Day is deeply personal. Each of us carries memories—names and faces of brothers and sisters who laid down their lives. It is a sacred bond, forged in hardship, in battle as it was for me in Vietnam and Commanding VII Corps in Desert Storm, and held together by a promise: to never forget them to honor and remember them and their Gold Star Families this sacred day and every day,, and to always fulfill the trust also of those who return by being there for them as we do together in Home Base Florida for the invisible wounds of service.

That promise is the mission of Home Base Florida.

Here in the state that is home to more than 1.5 million Veterans—the third largest Veteran population in the country—we are working every day to support those who have borne the battle. Florida also carries a tragic burden: it ranks among the highest in the nation for Veteran suicide. In 2022 alone according to the VA 2024 report, 540 Florida Veterans died by suicide, second to Texas with 582, a stark reminder that the wounds of war are often invisible—and deadly. FL Governor DeSantis and the FL Department of Veterans Affairs has an active program in being to combat this challenge.

One of the most critical and pressing challenges we address at Home Base is brain health. After two decades of war, over 400,000 Service Members nationwide have suffered traumatic brain injuries—many from blasts, others from the wear and tear of combat and training. These injuries are often classified as “mild,” yet their consequences are anything but. They affect behavior, cognition, emotion, and physical well-being, often long after the battlefield has fallen silent.

At Home Base, we believe the best way to honor the fallen is to fight for those living. Our programs are designed to confront the signature injuries of war—post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, and moral injury—offering Veterans, Service Members, and their Families expert care, at no cost to them.

Led by Director Armando Hernandez, USMC Veteran and his devoted team, and supported from the start by our local Communities and now also by state of Florida, we have expanded our reach through Home Base Florida, operating in communities across Naples, Fort Myers, Tampa Bay, and—last year—Pensacola, in partnership with Lakeview Centers. And in a landmark collaboration with Tampa General Hospital, we launched a dedicated Traumatic Brain Injury program, providing comprehensive clinical care for Veterans and Special Operators suffering from the complex, long-term effects of TBI.

As an organization that understands the impact of the invisible wounds, expanding access in Florida is not just a strategic priority—it is a moral one. And as a Florida Community, we can do more, go a step further. I urge a community wide effort to establish more brain health screening clinics for those who have suffered brain injury in service.

On this sacred Memorial Day, let us reflect not only on those we’ve lost, but on how we choose to continue to honor and remember them. The path forward is clear: we must continue to reach out to care for our Veterans and Families driven and inspired by those we honor and remember today. We must meet invisible wounds with visible action. And we must continue to build a future where no Warrior is left to suffer in silence or alone.

On behalf of our Director Armando Hernandez and his team and on this sacred Memorial Day, thank you for being part of the Home Base Florida family—and for your unwavering commitment to our mission. Together, we fulfill the trust of our Fallen, their Gold Star Families, and our Veterans and Families. We remember, we honor, and we care.

With deepest respect and gratitude,
Fred Franks
General, U.S. Army (Ret.)Honorary Director Home Base Florida