[Alas Babylon!]

This is great news! Last October, Hurricane Michael tore into the Florida panhandle and virtually wiped out Mexico beach and nearby Tyndall AFB (between Panama City and Mexico Beach Florida).

I had heard the damage was so bad Tyndal would be closed.

Well, now it's back! Hooray, my favorite base!

Sorry to see the F-22s go, but they're only a few minutes away at Eglin. And now Tyndall will have F-35s.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Close it.

[dp0622]

You live near?

Must be some great picture taking opportunities.

[EEGator]

Eglin and Hulburt house the USAF Special Forces. (I think)
I enjoyed hanging out in Lower Alabama...

[devane617]

I’m a Mexico Beach full-time resident(we’re rare) and there’s lots more to the story, but another time.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

I hope that any new Construction of Buildings is done in a way that they will be able to withstand Hurricane Winds and Storms. They should take a page out of the Buildings they built on the Air Force Base in Okinawa Japan.

[Redwood71]

This base is already busy in Eglin. The Tyndall occupancy is much larger than people think. Residing there under the guise of the Air Combat Command is:

325th Fighter Wing
First Air Force
53d Weapons Evaluation Group
Continental NORAD Region
Air Force Civil Engineer Support
44th FG
337 ACS
and others that aren’t mentioned.

This is a lot to house at Eglin with the diversity of the base. And as it is the planned training spot for the F-35’s coming within a couple of years, and the availability of Avon Park, it will be a busy training base.

rwood

[Portcall24]

Feb 1967...Tyndall AFB. Brand new 2/Lt, and I sign in to the orderly room on a Sunday for Weapons Controller training. Not looking forward to keeping track of all those pistols and rifles. Ha! I ask the NCO about the training. He takes me down the hall to a dark room and shows me a radar scope. “You’ll sit behind one of these and talk to pilots flying interceptors,” he said. Never had to be in Air Defense Command but loved my time in Tactical Air Command and controlling fighters in Vietnam (call sign: Portcall 24).

[BobL]

The repairs would cost HALF AS MUCH if they weren’t required to use ‘green building codes’...but hopefully Trump will end that crap in his next term.

[Svartalfiar]

Rebuilding about half of the buildings that were damaged is estimated to cost about $3 billion over five to seven years

Six Billion to rebuild the base...? That's ridiculous, most military buildings are pretty bare construction - they probably cost 5x less than an equivalent civilian building subject to all the EPA crap. The only ones that should be somewhat expensive would be minimal, such as climate controlled hangars and such.