Originally marketed as a volunteer civilian auxiliary organization meant to assist the National Guard and federal agencies with disaster relief missions, Florida’s State Guard has morphed into a quasi-military force solely answerable to Governor Ron DeSantis. As its budget ballooned into hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, it has purchased helicopters, drones, and thousands of firearms to arm recruits who undergo highly militarized training.
Florida’s State Guard originally operated between 1941 and 1947 as a version of Britain’s Home Guard to protect the state from Axis Power machinations. However, in 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis decided to revive the moribund institution, originally claiming it would only have an operating budget of $3.5 million to recruit 200 volunteers that would help FEMA and other national and state agencies respond to hurricanes and similar natural disasters.
Just one year later, the State Guard’s budget increased to more than $100 million while its ranks swelled to 1,500. In 2023, an additional $60 million (including $10 million taken from the state’s road maintenance program) were allocated to purchase 15 drones, three helicopters, three planes, and half a dozen patrol boats. $290,000 was spent just on ammunition for a supposed civilian organization.
The State Guard’s training program has been plagued with abuse scandals and resignations. “They are not really doing emergency prep, but hand-to-hand combat training and really intense militarized training operations,” explained one veteran who resigned over the program’s paramilitary-style indoctrination.
The State Guard’s missions included deploying 130 members to the Florida Keys to repel Haitian immigrants, while another unit was dispatched to the Texas-Mexican border. These and other similar assignments have many critics worried that the Guard’s primary focus is to help the governor score political points with his right-wing base rather than meaningfully assist Floridians.
