Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam Push Bill Creating Special Hunt Areas for Vets

Beneath Florida's Vietnam Veterans Memorial across the street from the Capitol building, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Adam Putnam pledged their support for legislation carving out parts of state parks specifically for U.S. military veterans.

Bills filed in the House and Senate would create special areas for veterans to enjoy outdoor activities like hunting. Advocates for the bill say the new veterans' areas will be parts of state parks that go largely unused.

"We have a situation with the current war where many of our members are coming back home with injuries that nobody could imagine," Carroll said.

Those injuries are often mental and emotional as well as physical. Johnathan Prudin, an Iraq War veteran who lost both of his legs after being wounded in combat, said the healing of those wounds must often be found in nontraditional ways.

"The therapeutic value of the areas is it lets these warriors gather together outdoors with fellow warriors, and that can't be matched by anything within the four walls of a hospital," Prudin said.

Prudin and other members of the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates and helps provide services to disabled veterans, gathered to support the bills, sponsored by Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, and Rep. Greg Steube, R-Parrish.

"We've got two great quarterbacks who are going to help us push this through the Legislature," Putnam said.