In a rambling speech, claiming “It’s a great thing to do,” and in a move designed to circumvent Congress, Trump today declared a national emergency in order to build his border wall.
But more on that later…
On October 10, last year, category 4 Hurricane Michael scored a direct hit on Tyndall Air Force Base, devastating one of our nation’s most important military installations.
Some of the headlines then:
The Stars and Stripes: “Tyndall Air Force Base sustained ‘catastrophic’ damage as Hurricane Michael struck the Florida installation head on, destroying buildings and potentially leaving the post vacant for weeks…”
Defense One: “Tyndall Air Force Base is in ruins. Michael’s eye passed right over the base, located just east of Panama City…”
From an October 11 Tyndall press release: “The flight line is devastated. Every building has severe damage. Many buildings are a complete loss.”
The aerial photo above, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows some of the destruction at Tyndall.
While the military responded immediately to quickly restore at least partial operational capability to that vital defense installation, the long-term reconstruction effort will be costly and long.
But perhaps like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the rebuilt Tyndall Air Force Base is slated to become “the installation of the future.”
For several years, the Air Force has talked about what an installation of the future looks like from several perspectives: sustainable, smart, healthy and resilient…Tyndall provides a unique opportunity to make some bold moves and implement multiple strategies aligned with what we envision such an installation will look like.
That is how Amy Vandeveer, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, described an ambitious project to rebuild the base at a “Tyndall Industry Day” held at Florida State University Panama City: The “approach the Air Force will take to rebuild the base as a modern installation that will sustain missions for decades to come.” An “unprecedented five-year and more than $3 billion reconstruction project.”
“Long-term rebuild plans call for multi-use, smart facilities able to withstand severe weather, a more capable flightline to support F-35 operations by 2023 and future weapons platforms in the decades that follow, and walkable campus areas that provide consolidated one-stop-shop facilities for Airmen and their families,” says Military News.
Great and much-needed reconstruction plans!
Unless the commander in chief, as part of his phony national emergency declaration to get around the U.S. Congress, plunders appropriated military construction funds in order to pay for his wonderful wall which, he promised, Mexico would pay for.
Several sources report that Trump will divert $3.6 billion budgeted for military construction projects to the border wall. It is anticipated that the $3.6 billion will come from funds intended for construction projects “such as hospitals, family housing, and maintenance, [money that] would not be replenished until Congress passes another defense appropriations bill….[that] this could leave critical infrastructure improvements in limbo.”
It just so happens that Tyndall’s reconstruction project will cost around $3 billion and that North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune sustained an estimated $3.6 billion in damages during Hurricane Florence, which struck in September 2018.
After declaring his national emergency, Trump plans to leave the capital on Friday afternoon for a long holiday weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida
