by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Taking another step toward the mayor’s goal of becoming the most military-friendly city in the country, Jacksonville International Airport and the USO will open a Military Welcome Center this Friday.
JIA will lease the space in the baggage pick up area for $1 a year, said spokesperson Mike Sharkey. The United Service Organization is still developing the center, but when it’s finished, it will feature a lounge, television and phones, all waiting for visiting service members.
Dan McCarthy, the City’s military liaison, said the welcome center would help Jacksonville stand out in the minds of military visitors. Since he took office, Mayor John Peyton has made it a priority to accommodate the military, which brings $144 million annually into the local economy.
“This is one of the things we needed to bring to Jacksonville to further enhance our image as military friendly,” said McCarthy. “The idea is to create a little oasis for someone new to the City who doesn’t know where the bases are, where they’re going.”
Service members and their families have long asked for a center, but the ball really started rolling when the local USO chapter changed leadership in January, said McCarthy. When K.C. McCarthy, a former Navy officer, arrived in Jacksonville to take over as executive director, she said the absence of a welcome center was conspicuous. She was immediately approached by the local military enlisted leaders who wanted a welcome center in the airport.
She said she’d recently been stopped by different people with the same question: Why was it taking so long to get a USO in Jacksonville? On both occasions she was happy to answer that it was on the way.
McCarthy has her own fond memories of the welcome centers. She recalls returning stateside after a five-day evacuation from her duty station in the Philippines. She dragged into the USO with her three daughters in tow.
“They put their arms around me and really took care of me,” she said.
The center will be only the second in military-heavy Florida. Pensacola has the other one.
Space is at a premium at JIA with the Super Bowl approaching and more than 100,000 tourists expected to be headed for Jacksonville. McCarthy credited the airport for parting with the 380 square-foot space for the center. She hopes to expand in the future and is currently negotiating with possible sponsors to allow it to happen. Armor Holding and Atlantic Drydock were the principle sponsors of the current facility.
The Welcome Center will open in time for Veterans Day, but the ribbon will officially be cut Friday in a ceremony expected to be attended by Peyton and local military representatives.