Coast Guard Officer Denied Certain Benefits in New Jersey?

ADDENDUM: I just spoke with New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney. He's a good friend. He couldn't have been more receptive about this and told me, "We'll take care of this. We'll fix it." I also talked with Assemblyman Brown and Mazzeo. Both were included unconditionally receptive.

Get ready for this one. A wonderful dad of a United States Coast Guard Officer called me on-air this morning. He advised that his son is being denied certain benefits because the state of New Jersey does not consider him to be a military servant.

This is outrageous. The federal government does treat our Coast Guard as military. In many instances, the State of New Jersey does not.

I'm copying Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno here to see what can be done to fix this. We need the Governor's leadership and for the state legislature to step-up and do the right thing.

I investigated this and here's what I've confirmed: presently, a Coast Guard Officer must have spent 14 days activated, "boots on-the-ground" to be eligible to be considered military in New Jersey.

Listen to the call here...

I spoke with United States Congressman Frank LoBiondo today. He agreed that this is unacceptable, but, it must be addressed at the state level.

Most all of our states consider Coast Guard employees to be military employees.

I am respectfully requesting that New Jersey Senator Jeff Van Drew and Assemblymen Chris Brown and Vince Mazzeo sponsor legislation to fix this matter as soon as possible.