STRI PES Veteran-owned businesses, others work to help each other succeed

It is refreshing to see how veteranowned businesses network and help each other succeed while also benefiting indirectly from organizations such as the Space Coast Economic Development Commission.

I was privileged to recently witness some of the interactions between the business owners, Florida Association of Veteran Owned Businesses CEO Stu Smith, and the EDC President and CEO Lynda Weatherman.

Weatherman said the EDC looks at the military installations on the Space Coast as economic engines, and as such, the organization fought to keep them all during the 2006 Base Realignment and Closure. At the time, the EDC along with other organizations and businesses fought to keep Patrick

Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Naval Ordnance Test Unit. It continues to work for strong ties with the military.

“To reverse a BRAC is one of the proudest moments of my career,” Weatherman said at recent meeting of the FAVOB.

Some of the businesses have government contracts because of the military presence on the Space Coast. Others do business with government contractors. Thousands of jobs are tied to these contracts, so the economic impact reaches other businesses, including those owned by veterans.

And these businesses look to hire veterans first. It is veterans looking out for other veterans, whether it is by how they do business with or by the people they hire.

Weatherman said there is a need to educate locals on the value of a veteran work force. The Department of Defense Skill Bridge program is available to those companies, and it is vital to keep it alive. It is a training and development program whereby an active-duty military member nearing separation from the military can easily transition to a civilian job. Military members come with discipline, training and good work ethics.

Weatherman said there is a need to educate companies on the value of the veteran workforce.

“Veterans tend to stay longer with a veteran-owned business or one with a distinct veteran culture,” Smith said.

To hear these veterans speak of their experiences, it is clear to me that a veteran would be a good addition to any company, veteran-owned or otherwise.

During the meeting, I witnessed businesspeople talk about how they can collaborate or work with each other. They exchanged contact information.

Long-serving veteran considers dental missions his greatest accomplishment

BY MARIA SONNENBERG

One night 20-odd years ago, while Burl “B.C.” Shubert slept peacefully during Reserve duty in Germany, the phone rang. It was a U.S. Army representative, calling to inform him he had surpassed a record by serving 42 years in the military.

It was a wake-up call in more ways than one and got Shubert thinking it perhaps was time for retirement. Although Shubert’s service record has been exceeded by officers such as the late Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., with a 46-year service career, it still remains impressive, considering he spent a significant amount of time taking care of soldiers’ dental needs.

Shubert’s story begins in a tiny hamlet in Northern Indiana, where as a good son and only child, he listened to what his father said.

“He told me he thought I’d do really well in the National Guard,” said Shubert, who agreed and joined at age 17 in 1957.

Why the Guard?

“If you lived in an itty-bitty town in Indiana back then, that’s the only branch of the military you knew,” he said.

“My father wanted me to go into the medical field and I liked my dentist,” he said.

The affable Shubert also joined the Army Reserves, where he remained for 34 years. He attended Emory University School of Medicine, where he studied general dentistry, and New York University for orthodontics.

perfect demographics and this was the place,” he said.

Shubert eventually added satellite offices as far south as Vero Beach, so you could say that many smiles along the Space and Treasure Coasts owe their radiance to the boy from Indiana.

Rica, Panama and Hawaii during 30day compassionate medical missions sponsored by the Pentagon.

“We were doctors, but we were ambassadors as well,” he said.

Shubert served in the National Guard for eight years, with duties that ranged from KP (mess duty) to medic, before heading to the field of dentistry.

Why dentistry?

While practicing in Miami, he began searching for a new location that would afford him a pleasant lifestyle and plenty of patients. He found it in Indialantic.

“I took a census of Florida and looked at the entire state to find the

As he was nearing retirement, he was deployed in Desert Storm, but, fortunately, remained in the states, helping soldiers with their teeth. Duty was like pulling teeth, literally, for 12 hours a stretch.

Shubert considers his greatest contribution the time he spent ministering to the poor in Ghana, Costa

Another major accomplishment for him was establishing the local chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The project necessitated raising $200,000 and a board of directors, both of which he orchestrated.

Shubert is the kind of guy anyone would like as a friend.

“He’s kind, generous, thoughtful, loving and very, very bright,” his partner Claudia O’Brien said.