PUNTA GORDA, Fla.—Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Chris Graham is the new director of the reestablished Florida State Guard (FSG).
The appointment was announced on June 15 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference at Madeira Beach.
Florida has joined 22 other states in bringing back a state-level defense force. The Guard will have approximately 400 members.
DeSantis said Florida has “one of the most understaffed National Guards in the United States.”
“Out of 54 states [and territories], Florida National Guard has the second-worst resident to guardsman ratios,” DeSantis told a room of mostly veterans.
The governor explained that since 1958 the Florida National Guard has had 12,000 troops, but Florida had fewer than five million people at that time and the civilian-to-guard ratio was 375 residents for every guardsman….