HOLY SH** this is INSANE
Keep in mind this is comprised of mostly High School Students led by Veterans of which both groups thought they were volunteering for an Emergency time volunteer position during natural disasters etc. The article is Very Long and a link posted below. I just posted a small piece of what is talked about.
Veterans quit as training, mission for DeSantis’ State Guard turns militaristic
GOVERNOR’S VISION FOR THE STATE GUARDThe revival of Florida’s State Guard started off modestly. DeSantis 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 than he requested: 400 members and a $10 million budget. Unlike the National Guard, State Guard members can’t be deployed by the federal government. They answer only to the governor. Lawmakers in 2022 added stipulations saying that members could only be called up in an emergency and couldn’t operate outside the state. Those requirements were dropped a year later. The program, open to Floridians ages 18 to 60, received thousands of applications, according to DeSantis.
In June last year, DeSantis named a decorated Marine and Purple Heart recipient from Miami as director of the State Guard. He died by suicide in October, with post-traumatic stress disorder a contributing factor, according to a police report. In January, DeSantis named the program’s deputy director, Luis Soler, to lead the force, earning a $165,000 salary. Soler, a captain in the United States Navy Reserve, began recruiting. Newhouse and others were asked to crisscross the state, interview State Guard recruits and seek people with a variety of skills. Volunteers are supposed to get $200 stipends for the days they’re called to work. Newhouse said he and Soler viewed the program as more of a Federal Emergency Management Agency response team than a National Guard unit, shunning ranks and camouflaged uniforms. He said he saw the State Guard as a resume-builder for college students and a way for veterans and others to continue to serve their communities.
By March, however, the state’s vision began to change. That month, 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 1,500 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.” Sgt. Marc Morgenstern U.S. Army 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 members can’t carry guns or make arrests and don’t have aircraft. DeSantis, a presidential candidate, has sent Florida National Guard members and state law enforcement officers to the Texas border, and has said he is willing to work with like-minded Republican governors and sheriffs to do more state-led efforts at the southern border. “I think states need to be more aggressive,” DeSantis said in terms of taking action on federal immigration enforcement.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article277245833.html#storylink=cpy
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