A room full of people that included military veterans, active military troops, Greene County officials, political leaders and several county citizens attended the announcement made by Governor Terry Branstad that Greene County is the first county in the state to be a Home Base Iowa community.
Local Army Veteran Jim Andrew led the presentation and introduced the guest speakers with the commander of the Iowa National Guard Major General Timothy Orr, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds and Governor Branstad.
Orr talked about working together with Greene County and Camp Dodge with thousands of military troops leaving active duty due to budget cuts and providing quality jobs to those veterans which is what the governor’s initiative is all about.
Governor Branstad told Raccoon Valley Radio the key aspect of Greene County’s plan was that he’s hopeful other counties will follow.
“Well the tremendous, broad-base support of this community (and) the businesses, everybody has really come together to show their respect and support for veterans. They’ve put together a very strong incentive package and I think this is just a great example we hope other counties will follow.”
31 total businesses have signed on as Home Base Businesses and Branstad pointed out that they’ve committed their businesses to hiring 321 veterans over the next few years.
Branstad thanked all the leadership that the county and city officials have shown to his program and hopes veterans will come to Iowa and recognize Greene County as the leader in the program.
Below are photos from the event:
A video of the governor reading a proclamation declaring Greene County as the first county as a Home Base Iowa community: