CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Thursday morning in Clay County to mark three years of the revived Florida State Guard.
The Florida State Guard, made up of civilian volunteers, first existed as a WWII-era state defense force active from 1944 to 1947 and was re-established in 2022 to bolster Florida’s ability to conduct disaster recovery and response efforts.
Speaking at Camp Blanding Joint Operations Training Center with Florida State Guard Director Mark Thieme, the governor highlighted the missions since undertaken by the defense force.
“The first test (was) getting an inaugural class, training and equipping 120 soldiers, and then two months later, we had a major hurricane — Hurricane Idalia — that ripped through the Big Bend of Florida. So, their first activation in 75 years, the State Guard deployed to nine impacted counties in the northern part of Florida. They conducted damage assessments, they surveyed inland, coastal and offshore waterways for public safety threat, survivors, overturned vessels and infrastructure damage, and they provided more than 4,000 hot meals to impacted Floridians,” he said.
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Of note, DeSantis said Florida is no longer engaged in Operation Lone Star — which in spring 2023 saw hundreds of Florida National Guard soldiers and law enforcement officers sent to Texas in response to the border state’s call for aid through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact — given the change in administration from former President Joe Biden to President Donald Trump.
According to Thieme, the Florida State Guard is close in number to surpassing the halfway point to its cap of 1,500 soldiers.
“630 is our current ranks. When we graduate this class here next week, we’ll reach an 800-soldier threshold along with the imminent receipt of aircraft and vessels, which the Legislature has phenomenally resourced and approved,” Thieme said. “The Florida State Guard here this week and next will surpass the halfway mark to achieving our statutory requirements to support this state in emergency response and public safety, and we’re well on our way. A very positive trajectory to reach full operational capability next fiscal year.”
Watch the news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.