In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, Tyndall Air Force Base is returning stronger than ever.
On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael became the strongest tropical storm to hit the United States since Andrew in 1992. Brewing at sea for over a week, it slammed the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast as a Category 5 storm with sustained winds as high as 160 mph. To say the storm was a monster would be an understatement.
Destruction was widespread across parts of Florida, and many communities were obliterated, including Mexico Beach, Callaway, and other communities all around Panama City and Port St. Joe. And what sat directly in Michael's path? Tyndall Air Force Base.
Now, just north of two years later, the United States Air Force is deep into a long-running project to rebuild a base that serves as a critical security function for the air defenses of our country, as well as the livelihood of the thousands of men and women, both military and civilian, who called it home.
"Every building on the air base — 100% of them spread across 29,000 acres — was either badly damaged or totally destroyed," said Col. Greg Moseley, commander of Tyndall Air Force Base. "We were at the absolute epicenter of where Hurricane Michael struck."
Now, two years later, Col. Moseley is leading the project to rebuild Tyndall not just back to what it used to be, but what he refers to as the "installation of the future."
"In the days before Michael hit, I was working at the Pentagon in a policy role," he said. "The military has a system for monitoring the weather, and when it reached the highest warning level — HURCON 5 — that meant there was likely going to be a direct hit with substantial damage in the next 96 hours."
While local civilians and community groups were planning their own evacuations to safer ground, the Air Force had to decide how to not only move the 3,500 airmen and their families stationed at Tyndall but also the billions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment, fighter planes, service vehicles and digital hardware. They also had to quickly determine what would just have to be left behind to the ravages of the storm.
The morning after Michael made landfall, even combat-hardened airmen like Col. Moseley were shocked at the devastation.
"We had left behind a core team to ride the storm out and to maintain the integrity of the base," said Col. Moseley. The experts who remained behind were responsible for critical base facilities, such as the area's water treatment plant that supports nearby local communities. "Fortunately, we had no casualties, but when we watched the video footage from inside the 'Ride Out Shelter,' you got the real sense of the power of this thing."
Two weeks after the impact, Vice President Mike Pence visited Panama City and announced the base would be rebuilt — a huge relief not only to the military, as Tyndall is a key strategic asset, but also to the local community who see the air force base and its 25,000-strong family as a major part of its local economy.
"The rebuild budget is currently set at around $4.9 billion. That could increase depending on what the final rebuild looks like, but we are all delighted to be remaining at the heart of this community," said Col. Moseley, a 1994 graduate of Niceville High School in nearby Okaloosa County.
General Patrice Melancon, a 30-year Air Force veteran, was appointed executive director of the rebuild program and, with her project team of 48 personnel, set to work immediately.
"Reconstruction is projected to take five to seven years to complete," said Gen. Melancon. "One of the biggest challenges we face is the fact that the Air Force mission cannot stop while we rebuild. This creates more risk and complexity to the whole program."
Tyndall Air Force Base is described by Col. Moseley as a "national treasure," because it is the only base in the continental U.S. that offers direct access to a large-scale training and exercise area — tens of thousands of square miles of airspace above the Gulf of Mexico.
"We can take off either east or west and then turn due south and out into the various combat training zones, from the runway to about 300 miles out to sea," he said. They can do so all without crossing civilian airspace or flying directly over residential areas. "With the training and maneuvers we are practicing — air to air combat, ground to air missiles, drone battles — all in the very latest fighter jets, we require this scale of air space."
Tyndall will remain the home of the 325th Fighter Wing, currently training pilots with F-22 Raptor fighter jets, and will soon also be the home of three new squadrons of the USAF's most technically advanced F-35 Lightning fighters.
"Tourists and residents may have seen our planes flying along the beach," explained Col. Moseley. "These are our airmen returning to base after training exercises out over the Gulf."
I remember returning from training missions and looking out of the cockpit window at the beaches, flying over The Red Bar, following 30A, and thinking, "This is the greatest commute in the world!"
Tyndall will also be the permanent home of other vital services and expertise. The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, which investigates the effectiveness of all the Air Force's munitions and missiles, will be rebuilt there. It will also house First Air Force, which oversees all civilian, private and military air traffic flying anywhere in the United States.
There are new technologies too. The base recently unleashed a pack of robo-dogs to patrol its unfenced Gulf-facing boundaries. Their appearance and warning "bark" alone will be enough to startle any unsuspecting paddle boarders or sailors who stray off course from nearby Shell Island. These four-foot robotic canines can patrol the swampy, bug-infested, sweltering sand dunes and beaches all day before returning to their "dog house" to recharge their batteries and download their files.
"We want to make this the most resilient installation — not just the physical base so it withstands future hurricanes, but for the airmen who serve here, and by extension the community we are part of," said Col. Moseley.
Being part of a community means working together to face tough and unexpected challenges such as the pandemic. "I think we will all have to work hard to tackle the pandemic, but also the pandemic of isolation which these events have created," said Moseley. "What does it mean for a young child or a teenager to have stopped going to school, seen their friends move away, live in temporary housing? Together, we are problem sharers so we can be problem solvers."
Col. Moseley recalled how the personnel of the Air Force base worked side by side with the civilian EMS, firefighters and law enforcement officers directly after Hurricane Michael to clear roads, secure buildings, provide aid and relief efforts. "I know the local population values us, and we certainly value them," said Col. Moseley.
During Hurricane Michael, 867 homes on the base were destroyed. So far, 97 have been rebuilt, with 500 more planned. "That means more of our airmen and their families will be living in the local community, helping out at little league games, shopping in local stores and going to the neighborhood schools," said Col. Moseley.
Located on the Gulf of Mexico, among Northwest Florida's timber forests and state parks, there surely isn't a more idyllic location for a military base. That beauty isn't lost on Col. Moseley.
"Our base is 29,000 acres, but about 70 percent of it is pristine and untouched," he said. "It's home to a startling array of wildlife — deer, bears, nesting birds, sea turtles. We recognize our responsibility as stewards of the natural world too. We have a natural resources team that ensures we are protecting the environment while we continue to defend our nation."
Good neighbors, indeed.
Story by Martin Liptrot · Photos courtesy of the U.S. Air Force · Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Issue 3
