[Veterans resign from the Florida State Guard force established as
civilian disaster relief, citing concerns over ‘militaristic’
training and ‘abuse’]
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STATE GUARD SET UP BY DESANTIS IS BEING TRAINED AS PERSONAL MILITIA,
VETERANS SAY  
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Richard Luscombe
July 15, 2023
Guardian
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_ Veterans resign from the Florida State Guard force established as
civilian disaster relief, citing concerns over ‘militaristic’
training and ‘abuse’ _

Ron Desantis, Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

A Florida state guard established by the rightwing governor, Ron
DeSantis [[link removed]], under the
guise of a civilian disaster relief force is instead being trained as
an armed, combat-ready militia under his personal command, according
to military veteran recruits who have quit the program.

Several veterans resigned after an encampment last month having become
concerned at the “militaristic” training and “abuse” one
disabled veteran suffered at the hands of instructors, according to
an investigation by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times
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Promoted by DeSantis as an “emergency focused, civilian defense
force
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when it was established in June 2022, the state guard has quickly
morphed into something quite different, the report found.

Volunteers have been trained for military combat, including the use of
weapons; khaki polo shirts and pants were replaced by camouflage
uniforms; and recruits were “barked at” by boot camp instructors
at the joint training base who woke them before dawn and imposed
lights-out by 10pm.

Additionally, DeSantis’s compliant, Republican-led state legislature
has contributed to the change of direction, this year approving
a massive expansion
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the force’s funding, size and equipment. Its budget increased from
$10m to $107.5m, and its maximum size more than tripled from 400
recruits to 1,500.

On the governor’s shopping list
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helicopters, boats, police powers and reportedly even
cellphone-hacking technology for a force outside of federal
jurisdiction, and accountable directly to him.

“The program got hijacked and turned into something that we were
trying to stay away from: a militia,” Brian Newhouse, a retired navy
veteran with 20 years’ experience, told the reporters.

Newhouse was originally chosen to lead one of the state guard’s
three divisions, and said he was removed from the base near
Jacksonville on the first day of training after raising his concerns
with national guard staff who were acting as instructors.

The abuse allegation, which was the subject of a police inquiry,
relates to an incident in which a disabled retired marine captain said
he was bundled into a van by national guard staff after he expressed
his displeasure at how recruits were being treated.

“I don’t even think the governor knows what’s going on. I
don’t think this is a fly on his radar right now,” Newhouse said,
noting that DeSantis is a former navy lieutenant. “He would be
appalled that a disabled veteran would be abused by other military
members.”

According to Newhouse and two others who quit, who have decades of
military service between them, the trainers were inexperienced and the
camp “slapdash”. Volunteers were given almost no written training
materials, and not tested on what they learned.

There were also no medical or physical assessments to determine
recruits’ fitness levels before they embarked on a demanding
obstacle course and drill, they said.

The apparent dysfunction appears reflective of the organization’s
leadership as a whole. The Herald/Times reporters, who reviewed
records as well as interviewing recruits, noted the state guard was
seeking its third commander in eight months.

Its then director, the navy reserve captain Luis Soler, was excluded
from the training camp and has since stepped down “for personal
reasons”, according to DeSantis’s office, reported last week by
the Florida Standard
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Newhouse said he and Soler viewed the program as an emergency
management response team in line with DeSantis’s original brief, and
a way for citizens to serve their communities, rather than what it had
become.

The Guardian has reached out to DeSantis’s office, and state guard
leadership, for comment.

The governor’s media team referred the Herald/Times to the state
guard, which sent a statement from Maj Gen John D Haas, Florida’s
adjutant general overseeing the state’s national guard, who said the
veterans were “dismissed” from the program, and had not resigned.

“[It’s] unfortunate that some of these individuals resorted to
complaints to the media,” he wrote.

“We are aware that some trainees who were removed are dissatisfied.
This is to be expected with any course that demands rigor and
discipline.”

Haas also seemed to confirm the veterans’ assertion that the state
guard’s brief had changed. It was a “military organization”, he
said, that will be used for “aiding law enforcement with riots and
illegal immigration”.

Democrats expressed fear in 2021
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when DeSantis first proposed to reactivate the state guard dormant
since the second world war, that it would eventually become a
paramilitary force beholden only to Florida’s authoritarian leader.

“No governor should have his own handpicked secret police,” said
Charlie Crist, the losing Democrat candidate when DeSantis was
re-elected in November.

* Ron DeSantis
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* Florida
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