“Gov. DeSantis had the foresight to say, ‘I have this tool in my pocket, all I have to do is take it out and use it,’” a retired Navy officer said. “His intention was a disaster response force solely for the citizens of the state of Florida.”
Ben Fairbrother, left, the Florida State Guard’s chief of staff, listens to Maj. Gen. John D. Haas, Florida’s adjutant general, speak at the Florida State Guard graduation ceremony at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Starke, Fla., June 30, 2023.
“Gov. DeSantis had the foresight to say, ‘I have this tool in my pocket, all I have to do is take it out and use it,’” Brian Newhouse, a retired Navy officer who helped recruit the first batch of volunteers, said in an interview. “His intention was a disaster response force solely for the citizens of the state of Florida.”
DeSantis, to whom the new State Guard reports directly, has suggested that concerns over the organization’s future role are unwarranted. “This is to be expected with any course that demands rigor and discipline,” he added. “The overwhelming majority of the participants have lauded the training and, in fact, have appreciated the opportunity to self-reflect and become better citizens.”The original plan to field 200 volunteers with a budget of $3.5 million, proposed in late 2021, grew to 1,500 people and $108 million. The first-year budget includes $50 million for five aircraft and $2.
They said they had expected sessions on such things as how to set up distribution of water and other resources during disasters. But that training, a copy of the schedule shows, came only at the very end, after classes on marksmanship and the concealed carry of weapons as well as a “combatives” class on hand-to-hand combat.
He said law enforcement was a necessary component of the Guard’s job because local police officers might themselves become victims of natural disasters. Of the nine original State Guard recruiters and commanders who spent months recruiting for the organization, fewer than a third remain. The staff director who had been a proponent of the less militarized version of the program, appointed in January, was removed from his post just days before the inaugural graduation. The program’s personnel director was fired this past week.
Unless the Guard implements an official rank structure and operates under the umbrella of the military, the notice said, “we will encourage our community to not join the organization.”
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