Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler paid a visit to Fort Stewart and the City of Hinesville this past Sunday. During her visit Loeffler said she met with Fort Stewart Third Infantry Commander, Major General Antonio Aguto, on the readiness of the soldiers at Fort Stewart, the availability of Tele-Health and mental Health services for the troops, the current pandemic and her pledge in not changing the names of military installations. Loeffler also paid a brief visit to Hinesville City Hall where she met and spoke with Mayor Allen Brown. 

Loeffler said she was impressed on how the military managed to continue the Defender 2020 exercises through the COVID-19 crisis. Defender 2020 was considered to be the third-largest military exercise in Europe since the end of the Cold War, utilizing soldiers from Fort Stewart in training exercises that showed the Army’s ability to move stateside forces to locations across Europe, and train and collaborate with the NATO allies in Poland, the Baltics, some Nordic nations and Germany.

“We saw firsthand their ability to remain highly effective and ready during a pandemic,” she said. “They had to make rapid adjustments, not just in the middle of a global pandemic, but a global military exercise in Defender 2020.”

She continued by saying, “I’ve been working hard to support our men and women in the military. I supported the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) because we need to make sure that our men and women have the resources and the tools they require.”

Loeffler said they are still in the process of reviewing the plan and opposes the additional language that would allow changes to names of current military installations. 

“I’m not in favor of changing historical references,” Loeffler said. “And making sure that we honor the men and women who have fought in our military, that were trained at these bases. So, I stood with the President to support the NDAA but not for the provision that would rename military bases.”

Loeffler spoke about the success of the Tele-Health program saying it became a necessary and valuable tool during the pandemic allowing public and military personnel immediate access to health care. 

“One of the pieces of legislation that I got included in the CARES Act (The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), I actually got three pieces of legislation included in the CARES Act and they all related to health,” she said. “One of them was Tele-Health and we saw the effectiveness of Tele-Medicine to serve citizens in a time of a pandemic. Take that a step further…our veterans deserve the very best care and I have fought tirelessly since getting into the senate and serving on the veterans affairs committee to make sure that veterans have expanded services through Tele-Medicine.”

Loeffler said they recently passed legislation to ensure more providers could provide Tele-Medicine Services. She added that they are also looking to expand mental health services for military personnel.

She said that President Donald J. Trump has led the charge in making sure that veterans will have access to all the resources they need and that more work is needed to fix the Veterans Administration.

Loeffler also expressed her thoughts about the upcoming election saying that she is highly confident that the United States Postal Service, “Will get the job done as it does every election cycle.”

She said Georgians have the option to vote by Absentee Ballot, early in person or in person on Nov. 3.

She briefly talked about social reform and her thoughts on the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement.

“I have spoken out against the BLM Political Organization because its focus is on defunding the police,” she said. “I think that is the wrong direction to go. They promoted violence and anti-Semitism. Their platform doesn’t believe in the nuclear family, that’s Mom’s and Dad’s, so I’ve spoken out against that. But I’ve spoken out in favor of real solutions that can bring help to our communities. Things like school choice, funding opportunity zones, permanent funding to HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). There are so many constructive ways we can address this.”