Recruits and leaders are already quitting Desantis’s new State Guard since they thought they were signing up for disaster relief efforts, only to learn they are being trained as the Governor’s private army.
One volunteer, a disabled retired Marine Corps captain, called the local sheriff’s office to report he was battered by Florida National Guard instructors when they forcibly shoved him into a van after he questioned the program and its leadership.
Over 30 days in June, teenagers out of high school and retired military veterans came to Camp Blanding, the National Guard base near Jacksonville. Many were told they would volunteer for a revived State Guard with a nonmilitary mission: help Floridians in times of need or disaster.
Instead, the state’s National Guard trained the volunteers for combat. Khakis and polos were replaced by camouflaged uniforms. Volunteers assured they could keep their facial hair were ordered to shave. And they were drilled on how to rappel with ropes, navigate through the woods and respond to incidents under military command.
According to records reviewed by the Times/Herald and interviews with program volunteers, some recruits quit after the first training class last month because they feared it was becoming too militaristic.
orlando sentinel
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