The Tampa Bay Times published a scathing report on Friday about the missteps regarding the training for the recruits in the revived Florida State Guard (FSG) but Townhall has learned some important information was not included in the story.
The Florida State Guard is similar to the state's National Guard in that they are going to be responsible for responding to natural disasters and riots but they will answer only to the governor and can not be activated by the federal government.
One of the named subjects in the story is Brian Newhouse, a retired 20-year Navy veteran, who told the Times he was worried the mission of the FSG became too militaristic: "The program got hijacked and turned into something that we were trying to stay away from: a militia."
Newhouse said he was removed from training after only a day for making several complaints:
On the first day of training, Newhouse said he was escorted off the base after lodging several complaints, including that the National Guard’s schedule required training on Sundays, instead of allowing members to use those days for religious services and personal time, as was the original plan.
He said he had previously complained that the National Guard didn’t have medics available during training.
Townhall obtained a memo which shows then-Director of the FSG Luis Soler detailing Newhouse had been removed from training for violating their code of conduct. According to the memo, which was circulated among FSG leadership on June 9, Newhouse allegedly made "sexually oriented and inappropriate comments regarding a female officer of the Training Cadre to an enlisted member of the Training Cadre."
"Newhouse certainly wanted his weekends free, but it didn’t appear to be for religious services," a source familiar with the discharge said.
Obtained by Townhall
When reached for comment about the memo, Newhouse told Townhall he "unequivocally" denies making any inappropriate comments about a female officer and the incident described in the memo is "fabricated."
"I'm not accusing anyone of anything right now, I'm just telling you right now, the details in that document are false," said Newhouse.
Other complaints made by sources to the Times was the training was too much like a real boot camp and it was unexpected:
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.
State Rep. Tom Fabricio (R), one of the new members of the FSG, gave the Times a statement about his experience of the training. The only portion of his statement included in the story was the following: "It was no surprise to me that FSG boot camp was a militaristic boot camp. This is mainly because, to put it plainly, it’s called ‘boot camp’ and it was on a military training base."
This sentence right after was not included in the Times' story: "There were multiple pre-calls where the state guard employees went over the training curriculum prior to the first day of training where they went into each of the components and difficulty of training."
"The Florida State Guard, a military organization, expects its members to receive rigorous military training in order to protect its citizens? Shocking. No wonder the Tampa Bay Times and legacy media have lost all credibility and are heading towards financial insolvency. I’m glad we have over 120 new Guardsmen prepared to respond to riots, illegal immigration, and natural disasters," Governor Ron DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern told Townhall.