Do you live in Fla?

If you live in Fla, would you be interested in joining the Fla State Guard.
(this is not the National Guard) The Fla Guard only comes under the
authority of the Fla Military State govt. You would never be called outside
the State for any mission.

There currently is no state Guard - but a group are trying to start one.
There will be a need for Chaplains!

Here is the link for the Group: https://www.gofloridasdf.org/?utm_c...mail&cid=aa0f634b-6b6d-4ac5-9270-c3e5f76c4e40


This is the Email I recd:

I am Jim Stephens and I am the one who has been operating the www.GoFloridaSDF.org and the Facebook group in our efforts to get the Florida SDF reactivated. I know I have never reached out like this before, so I am a little unsure how to do email marketing via our website, so please bear with me as we get started.

A few things to report. We are reaching out to various high-level state representatives to get a face-to-face meeting with Governor DeSantis or his representative(s) so that we can present our case or our side of the facts on why Florida should have an active SDF and how we can save the state money in various ways. I have also been in touch with BG (TN) Santiago of SGAUS and others to start conversations just in case we get a green light at some point.

There is also an ongoing inquiry by the Florida Military Department into starting an SDF recently. Initially I heard that it would be finished by the end of October 2021 (a couple weeks ago), but I have just received word from the Florida Military Department that the study should be complete by March 2022. My thought on this is that it is a good thing that they are looking into again after the flat “no thank you” we received on the issue in 2018.

Some of you have served in other State Guards and SDFs and that is great! If we get the word to reactivate, we will need people with knowledge and skills with how state organizations operate and many other things in order for us to get going. Others of you are veterans of one of the “federal services” (Army, USN, USMC, USAF, USCG, including the National Guard) and that knowledge base will be needed as well. But then, some of you have never served in uniform in any organization and we are happy to have you as well as we will probably need “fresh eyes and ideas” when it comes to things that might need fresh eyes and ideas. So, there will be a role for everyone and plenty to do when the time comes.

Since our group has started back in 2018, I have purposefully kept us “disorganized” and not take the shape of an actual organization like other people have done before us. Before I and others got into this mission, there have been several others out there who say that they formed various non-profit organizations and did things in the past that have made our mission difficult. We all know who they are or have heard of them.

There are plenty of groups out there that advocate for various political points of view and I did not want our group to get lumped into those questionable other groups. This is why I describe our group as, thus far, we are simply a group of service-minded Floridians who want to serve the state of Florida in times of need in a uniformed service of the state. We have no political agenda. Period.

With that being said, what will be do if/when we get the word that the state wants to start an SDF? Firstly, there is no reason to think that when the time does happen that we will have anything to do with it and the Florida Military Department might just do their own thing without us involved other than send out a call to come join. Just because we are here and making a bunch of noise, does not mean that they will use us as a group or anyone in the group. I would hope that they would not ignore the vast knowledge and experience base that our group has and that we will be involved in some way. Like I said, I hope that is what will happen.

However, if they do call us, I/we need to have some sort of plan or ideas as to how to proceed. BG Santiago has pledged the support of SGAUS in this effort.

What I need at this point is information from everyone in the group concerning how you can contribute to our cause. We need good contact info and what special skills and interests that you can bring to the table. I would hope that everyone will provide this information because just a few of us cannot do it alone.

This brings the question… “What kind of commitment of time, money and EFFORT will I have to make to be member of the Florida SDF. Well, I will put it like this. I do understand that we will be unpaid volunteers most of the time and that everyone has a life outside of the SDF. However, keep in mind that the SDF will be a REAL, state approved, “military service” that will have missions assigned to us. What those missions will be is unknown at this time, but you can plan on us having similar missions as our sister states like Texas, Georgia, Mississippi and other states that hosts hurricanes each year. When the call comes to activate, there will be a very good chance that something unpleasant is happening or is about to happen somewhere and that we are needed. The call might come at anytime of the day or night. So, think of this as being the same level of commitment that you would give to a local volunteer fire department or rescue squad. If I am willing to make arrangements to make this level of commitment to you and the people of Florida, I would expect you to do the same.

In the meantime, my email address is GoFloridaSDF@gmail.com. Please send me your thoughts and ideas concerning how you think we should be organized.

Regards,

Jim, Stephens, MSN, RN