The week in photos—August 27

U.S. Representative Gus Bilirakis, who represents Florida’s 12th Congressional District, met with Saint Leo’s student-veterans and ROTC members on August 31. Bilirakis and the students discussed Post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefit changes. In addition, they discussed concerns about the burn pits servicemembers are exposed to during deployments. Bilirakis is developing legislation requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to assume that certain diseases stem from burn pit exposure when it makes decisions on compensating veterans. Shown in the group photo are ROTC Cadet and Florida Guardsman Christopher Graves; Heather Hirschey (U.S. Marine Corps veteran); Xavier Shipman (U.S. Marine Corps veteran); ROTC Cadet Paige Swanson; Michael Carbonaro (U.S. Marine Corps veteran); Congressman Gus Bilirakis; Jerrod Kline (U.S. Air Force veteran); Stephen Koehn (U.S. Army veteran); Eric Cox (U.S. Army veteran); Curtis Mavor (U.S. Army veteran), Fanny Wright (director of Military Affairs and Veterans Services, U.S. Air Force veteran); and Pamela Martis (associate vice president of Military Affairs and Veterans Services, U.S. Army veteran).