Looks like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's latest stunt to reestablish
the Florida State Guard has been a flop so far,
with more than 20% of recruits quitting and much of the leadership joining them.
Look, to fully understand why, let's revisit what Florida State Guard is and
why DeSantis wanted to establish something that was disbanded in 1947.
DeSantis was allegedly frustrated that his state wasn't getting enough
of a law enforcement handout from the federal government.
After complaining that Washington had failed to provide adequate staffing for
Florida's National Guard, he announced that for the first time in 75 years,
he was activating the State Guard to close the gap.
DeSantis's original vision for this program went as follows.
He proposed bringing back the World War II-era force to supplement
the overworked and understaffed Florida National Guard.
Although some Democrats were critical of handing DeSantis more power,
state lawmakers last year gave the governor twice the volunteers that
he requested, 400 members and a $10 million budget.
All right, so let's pause for a second, let's be good faith here.
Let's actually talk about the reality and context.
It is important to note that other states have similar programs with the power to
create defense forces separate from the National Guard.
It's just that the way that they've implemented it, very, very different.
Now, DeSantis's plan to reestablish the civilian force would become the 23rd
active State Guard in the country, joining California, Texas, and New York.
And on its face, there is nothing wrong with forming a State Guard,
considering it's supposed to consist of volunteers who would respond to
disasters like hurricanes and other emergencies.
But the volunteers in Florida argue that's not what they were being utilized for.
And some of the volunteers who signed up for
the program believe the group has become too militarized and abusive.
In March, state lawmakers and the governor revealed that they wanted to
assign the State Guard $89 million to buy boats, planes, and helicopters.
They wanted a specialized unit within the Guard to have police powers and
the ability to carry weapons.
And they wanted to boost the State Guard to 1500 members.
Instead of being activated only during emergencies within Florida,
they could be sent to any state to protect and
defend the people of Florida from threats to public safety.
Yeah, so other states don't do it this way.
The Guard was shaping up to be more like a state militia, acting as another law
enforcement agency that's controlled specifically by the governor himself.
The same guy, by the way, who's currently campaigning for president.
In a statement, Major General John D, Haas, who's overseeing the State Guard,
said, it was a military organization that will be used not just for emergencies,
but for aiding law enforcement with riots and illegal immigration.
What was supposed to be a civilian disaster response organization has become
heavily militarized.
The volunteers were soon required to participate in marching drills,
military style training sessions on weapons,
and they even received training on hand to hand combat.
One of the recruits described the training as more like a military fantasy
camp than the practical instruction expected in topics such
as how to respond to hurricanes.
Sounds more like a proud boys fantasy camp than anything else,
except taxpayers in the state happen to be funding it.
The volunteers said the training seemed poorly structured, with an inordinate
amount of time spent, and one of them described it marching in fields [LAUGH].
Some of the men said that as veterans with years of experience in the military,
they were offended when they were yelled at by junior instructors acting
like drill sergeants who disregarded their previous ranks.
I'm gonna pause for a second.
I get that they want their previous ranks to be respected,
but you got to let it go, bro.
But they have issues with just how the younger individuals who were training them
were treating them.
One former Marine captain, for instance, who had retired from the military with
a disability and later joined the State Guard,
clashed with instructors during the initial boot camp last month.
In an assault complaint filed with the Clay County Sheriff's Office,
the man said he was accused by the State Guard commander of being the leader of
the group that had been criticizing the organization and its leadership.
He was then forcibly pushed into a van against his objections and
driven to the command post, where he was fired and
escorted off the base, according to the complaint.
Another volunteer, a retired 30-year Marine, witnessed the incident and
gave a statement to the police saying the sergeant acted rather harshly.
And that they told the alleged victim that, quote, they didn't care he
was a retired U.S. Marine Corps captain, and that he was only a recruit.
And to be crystal clear, this is again unlike other State Guards.
While nearly half of states have volunteer State Guards,
usually with military structures, few if any appear to have equivalent powers.
Texas, for example, has deployed its State Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border,
but its members are not allowed to carry guns or make arrests.
They also aren't supplied with aircraft, and so far,
at least 20% of the 150 people initially accepted into
the program have dropped out or were dismissed.
And most of the original leadership that was appointed to the program
also decided to bounce.
Of the nine original State Guard recruiters and commanders who spent months
recruiting for the organization, fewer than a third of them remain.
So safe to say that like much of Ron DeSantis's weird publicity stunts and
political stunts, this one was a flop.
And the state unfortunately spent ten of millions of dollars on it just to
see it fail.