Jacob Ogles
Federal officials from Florida are bracing for news that the U.S. military could move Special Forces out of the Panhandle.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott told Florida Politics he was told only last weekend to prepare for news regarding Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, located in Okaloosa County.
“We get a phone call, saying they want to talk to me,” Scott said. But he was told officials would not talk until Friday. That’s a day after the Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and just as lawmakers anticipate going into the August recess.
“It seems a little suspect,” Scott said.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican, told the Pensacola News Journal he and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio similarly received the same vague message. He promised to fight any effort by the Air Force to close the Special Forces command.
“There is nothing to show Florida is not the best location to house these commands,” he told the newspaper.
Rubio also had an amendment passed to the NDAA requiring justification be provided if Special Forces are moved.
Scott’s Office estimates a closure could impact some 25,000 people, including military families and contractors.
It’s also an affront to Florida’s reputation as a military-friendly state.
“We put a lot of effort into making sure Florida was the most military-friendly state in the country when I was Governor,” he said. That included providing in-state tuition to students of families stationed there, making families quickly eligible for other state programs, and providing reciprocity on many licenses obtained in other states.
But he’s most frustrated that Florida, a state with numerous bases and commands, could be at risk of losing an operations center in a shuffling that sidesteps any normal process. He said Florida leaders closely follow the Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure Process (BRAC), which routinely studies how resources should be allocated.
“We always prepared for BRAC,” he said. “That would be a process.”
Scott said that as part of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he would hope for more than a week’s advance notice.
The move comes amid reports of China stepping up spying operations in Cuba. But Scott said that in classified briefings, he has never been given any indication intelligence has reason to move Special Forces from Florida.
“Not one of our bases is not fulfilling its mission,” he said.
24 comments
Dont Say FLA
July 28, 2023 at 9:00 am
“There is nothing to show Florida is not the best location to house these commands.” Uhhhh what? See the Rhonda Campaign, Rick.
Rhonda says the military is woke, and Florida is where woke goes to die. So why would the military want to be in Florida when Rhonda says they will die from going to Florida?
LOL @ Stupid Rick pretending not to know Stupid Rhonda is the problem
Plus Melania
July 28, 2023 at 9:16 am
Plus there’s the out of control Malaria in Florida
Gordon Robertson
July 29, 2023 at 10:21 pm
I think theyare right these are our best troops and we put them in a state with no income ta x sunny days beautiful beautiful women gee. Send to a place to test there metal like CALIF. WHERE THEY TAKE HALF THEIR SALERY FOR TAXES AID TO ILLEGAL ALIENS AND A READY TEST OF THEIR SKILLS TRYING TO WALK OR WORSE CRAWL DOW THE STREETS OF San Francisco without getting crap all over them o infiltrate without being mugged.
stan hollander
July 29, 2023 at 10:47 pm
They could go to Nevada. No statee tax and plenty of “beautiful, beautiful women”.
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PeterH
July 28, 2023 at 9:01 am
Hurricane alley is the best place in the USA for Air Force command center!
🙄🙄
Governor DeSantis
July 28, 2023 at 9:31 am
Governor DeSantis really earned his governor paycheck this week running the Air Force out of Florida. Maybe he’ll back down from his Disney squabble before Disney leaves too. Nah, he won’t back down before Disney leaves. He is just too stupid.
Kathleen
July 28, 2023 at 7:42 pm
I agree 100 percent
Bob
July 29, 2023 at 10:09 pm
It’s really unfortunate that in order to provide the semblance of political bipartisanship, Floridapolitics.com has to print your comments. Most of us will, however, filter out your insanity.
Ocean Joe
July 28, 2023 at 9:35 am
Scott wants answers.
So did the DOJ, the 74 times he pled the fifth.
Don’t recall, did we lose any military bases while Bill Nelson was in office, or did we gain some?
SteveHC
July 28, 2023 at 9:38 am
Could someone PLEASE “remind” Florida’s big-talking-but-often-small-minded Republican Senators (sorry dudes but I call them as I see them) that NO members of Congress are “co-Commanders In Chief” of the U. S. Armed Forces? Perhaps instead of decrying the Executive Branch’s *possible* need to reorganize the military these guys should instead deal with their Tuberville Problem decisively to help decrease the *potential* need for such reorganization in the first place…
Jim
July 28, 2023 at 10:10 am
In the first sentence, “Florida’s federal officials” doesn’t sound right.
Igary salters
July 28, 2023 at 10:15 am
IF THE SPECIAL FORCES OPERATION COMAND IS MOVED OUT OF FLORIDA FLORIDA MEMBERS OF THE GOP IS THE REASON WHY FLORIDA WITH THE 6 WEEK ABORTION WHICH PROHIBIT WOMEN FROM THE HEALTH CARE THEY NEED BEEN TOLD BY WHITE MEN WHO DON’T KNOW DIDDLY ABOUT WOMEN BODIES TELLING WOMEN THEY DON’T CONTROL THEIR OWN BODIES THIS AFFECT MILITARY FAMILIES SO THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS NOT FRIENDLY TO THE MILITARY WITH THE ANTI- IMMIGRATION LAWS HISPANICS MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY ARE AFRAID FOR THEIR FAMILIES MENBERS HENCE THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS NOT FRIENDY TO THE MILITARY BEIBG THAT THERE ARE LGBQR+ PEOPLE IN THE MILITARY WITH THE STATE ANTI-LGBQT+ LAWS THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS NOT FRIENDLY TO THE MILITARY WITH THE SO CALL ANTI-WOKE RACIST LAWS AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE WHEN THERE ARE BLACK MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVE IN THE MILITARY AND THE CHILDREN OF THESE BLACK SERVICE MEMBERS ARE TOLD THAT THEIR HISTORY CAN NOT BE TAUGHT IN FLORIDA SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES IN AFFECTS TELLING YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE THAT BLACK LIVES DON’T MATTER THEN THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS NOT FRIENDLY TO THE MILITARY SO ENHENCEFORT THE MILITARY WILL GO THE STATES THAT DO NOT DISCRIMMINATE AT WOMEN LGBTQ+ AND BLACK PEOPLE SO THAT THE FAMILES MEMBERS AND SERVICE MENBERS WILL FEEL SAVE ENOUGH SAID
PeterH
July 28, 2023 at 11:29 am
Well said! It looks like Florida Politics has a new thoughtful poster! Thank you for posting something interesting and intelligent.
Dont Say FLA
July 29, 2023 at 11:25 am
Agree with PeterH. Welcome and thanks for the insight! Please hit ENTER a couple times to break up into paragraphs. I get lost in so much continuous, unbroken text. Thank you Mr Salters!
Kathleen
July 28, 2023 at 7:44 pm
I agree 100 percent
Sam
July 29, 2023 at 1:01 am
Recall those idiots before the situation gets out of.
Personally I am leaving too because I don’t stand idiots
Ed Heick
July 29, 2023 at 8:08 am
First it starts with Panhandle area. What’s next on the list, Tampa area bases and Commands, or Jacksonville.. Are they interested in shooting rockets from Alabama also? Get a backbone, leave things right where they are and stand up for Florida, that’s your job.
Dont Say FLA
July 29, 2023 at 11:24 am
Alabama isn’t where woke goes to die, so there’s not any threat from Alabama being made by Alabama’s governor to the “woke” military. OTOH Tuberville, so they probably gonna move some things out of Alabama ASAP, too.
Dont Say FLA
July 29, 2023 at 11:23 am
Did Rick get some attention, or did anything actually get announced about moving USAF off the panhandle in response to Rhonda’s raging about “the military is woke” and “woke is where Florida goes to die?”
Dont Say FLA
July 29, 2023 at 11:55 am
The Air Force Special Operations Command will remain at its home at Okaloosa County’s Hurlburt Field, but about 600 of the nearly 9,000 service members stationed at the base will be relocated to Davis-Monthan Air Base in Arizona over the next five years with helping to establish the 492nd Special Operations Wing at the Arizona Base.
Scoot and Gaetz thumping their chests over nothing, but we all know why: Rhonda and his anti-woke campaign inflated Scott’s and Gaetz’s concern to panic level, assuming the “woke” military was giving Rhonda a big ole FU. But it was just a little FU.
Nothing much to see here, but a point made by the USAF manipulating Scott and Gaetz into protesting Rhonda’s woke nonsense. Haha.
Rhonda can always be depended on to provide people, even just little kids, with enough rope to hang Rhonda without even trying that hard.
My Take
July 30, 2023 at 10:18 am
It’s a lot of trouble operating a big US base in a Third-Worldish locality.
For your personnel and their families’ well being you need your own housing, schools (!), doctors, hospitals, libraries, recreation facilities, etc.
Far less so in a fully civilized state or, say, Germany.
Beth
August 5, 2023 at 1:03 pm
I’m still waiting for answers about how much money Ricky Scott stole from Medicare.
Sarah
August 6, 2023 at 5:25 pm
Florida is no longer the attractive paradise it once was, thanks to DeSantis and his minions attack on Floridians. Our doctors are leaving because they don’t want the government overriding their professional decisions. Our teachers are leaving because the far right & uneducated are bullying them. And they aren’t paid nearly enough. Our citizens are leaving because housing is too expensive and the insurance crisis has gutted affordability. And businesses don’t want the government making them a political punching bag. Miami’s population has detracted for the first time in a long time! Our politicians worry more about their own pockets and polling numbers than what’s best for our people. It seems the Florida swamps may be drained by developers but the swamp monsters are alive and well in Tallahassee.
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