BANKS, DEVELOPERS, & BUILDERS - ARE YOU READY FOR THE 7TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP

READ TODAY’S FRONT PAGE NEWS STORY: The time has come for the 7th Special Forces move and it is my opinion, we are behind the eight-ball. We will need to play catch up for quite some time. However, that is a good problem to have here. What does this mean?
1) The Army is reporting for duty during this time period. It does not mean they have found a home yet. Enough quality homes are not available.
2) What choices do they have?
a. Be a geographical bachelor here until a suitable home is available.
b. Chose to live in a rental.
c. Chose to live in a rental until a home is built.
d. Move in with the In-Law’s until a home is ready. Not a good thing. Been there Done it, NO FUN.
e. Don’t move family from Fort Bragg (Not a good choice).
NOTE:
1) It has been noted, close to 20,000 troops are moving to Fort Bragg and need the 7th Special Forces Group folks to move out to make room.
2) The F-35 Training Squadron is setting up, as well.
3) Eglin Base housing has been reduced from over 2700 homes to about 1000 homes. GOVERNMENT wants out of housing and wants private sector to accommodate.
4) Other indirect group associated with Army, F-35, Vision Airlines also putting strain on housing.

As a Former Military Housing Director, I can share some more thoughts. Basically, BUILD baby BUILD.

THE BIG MOVE
Up to 200 Army Special Forces soldiers will begin arriving weekly
By MONA MOORE
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4443 mmoore@nwfdailynews.com  
Starting this week, soldiers with the Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) will start rolling in by the hundreds. As many as 200 will arrive each week until all 1,887 of them arrived in Northwest Florida in September. “This is where the bigger moves will begin,” said Maj. Tony Parilli, the human resource manager who is coordinating the move. “This is really when we really start pushing the main body.” In the near future, a fourth battalion will join the compound south of Crestview. That will bring the total to 2,247 troops and 6,000 dependents in the region. The staggered start was planned to avoid overwhelming the support team in charge of the process. The same Fort Bragg office that will issue the orders and authorize each move will process the soldiers as they arrive. “We were very deliberate in the way we planned this to control the flow out as well as to enable the guys on our team at Eglin (Air Force Base) to process everybody effectively and efficiently,” Parilli said. “We float them in manageable numbers. And then, in the midst of all that, we also have to make sure we have accountability: who is in transit; who’s on leave; who’s at Bragg; and obviously, who is signed in and going through the in-processing phase.” A team of about 40 troops moved to the area last summer to start laying the groundwork for the big move. Since January, that team has swelled to about 160 soldiers to help with coordination efforts, said Maj. Jimmy Brownlee, spokesman for the 7th Special Forces. Those 160 have brought about 375 dependents with them.
Settling in:
Staff Sgt. Samuel Taylor and his family were a part of the second wave. They moved to the area Jan. 1 so he could set up the ranges the soldiers will use. “It’s starting to fill up. There’s a steady flow of people coming in now, and I guess there will be for the next several months,” Taylor said. He and his family settled in Shalimar. Taylor said his three children love going to Eglin Elementary and have had no trouble adapting to the new school. “And they love their new friends. They’ve got a lot of friends in the neighborhood they go to school with,” he said. “It’s really nice for my family because we grew up in Orlando, Fla., so it’s good to be back at the beach.” In his 14 years in the Army, Parilli has had 11 station changes. “My son just turned 3 and this is his fifth move,” he said. “Since he was born in December of ’08, we went from Washington, D.C., to Naples, Italy; from Italy to Alabama; from Alabama to Fort Bragg; and now, from Fort Bragg to Florida.” Because Special Forces soldiers who participate in foreign operations usually have language and cultural skills specific to certain areas of the world, they tend to grow roots in their assigned units. When they reach the Emerald Coast, they will be here for the rest of their careers. As part of the support team, Parilli said he “has a shelf life.” He most likely will continue changing stations every couple of years. He and his family plan to get the most out of the area while they can. The Parillis recently moved into their home in Niceville. Parilli said they chose Niceville because it was centrally located to his job, the beaches and major shopping centers. “I think I’m going to enjoy the good weather and I’m going to enjoy being by the water. And for my boys, being 3 and 2, I think it’ll be a great experience for them to be near the ocean and be able to live in that environment,” he said. “That’s the beauty of the military. You get to go everywhere. But being on the Emerald Coast is really going to be a very nice thing for us.” Parilli said the toughest part of coordinating the Special Forces’ move has been managing the flow of people to ensure that the operational mission is not affected, “yet make this as seamless and as painless for the soldiers and the families.” The single soldiers who plan to live in the dormitories at the compound most likely will wait a few months to begin their move. Brownlee said the dorms are not slated for completion until July. “We’re in it now. It’s time to go and I think people are getting excited and looking forward to their new Northwest Florida home,” Parilli said.
Local preparations
The biggest push will be between June and July, as families with schoolage children move in before the new school year begins in August. Okaloosa County Superintendent of Schools Alexis Tibbetts said local schools have given several tours to Special Forces families but have yet to see a spike in enrollment. “But now that’s not unusual … There are some families that actually will register the day school starts. We discourage that,” Tibbetts said. “We would like for them to start registering just as soon as they get located.” The school district rezoned neighborhoods in anticipation of the influx of new students. However, the district had to assign next year’s teachers according to current enrollment numbers. “That’s a big problem,” Tibbetts said. “We’ll probably be laying off teachers based on the number of students we currently have. Then as students register over the summer we will hire teachers based on the numbers that increase in specific school areas.” Tibbetts said Antioch and Riverside elementary schools in Crestview are expected to see the largest increase. She encouraged families to take advantage of summer schedules to visit schools and meet principals. The school principals work all summer. The parents who already have taken tours have been pleased, Tibbetts said. “You have to realize that these people are moving to a school district that every school in the district is an A or B — and very few B’s,” she said. “There’s nowhere they can move in Okaloosa County that they’re not going to have a high-performing school for their children to attend.” Crestview Mayor David Cadle said his city has seen a spike in utility tap-ons in the last two months. “We’re excited. We’ve been working a long time preparing for these folks to arrive and hopefully, many of them will be living in the city of Crestview or the surrounding areas, and we welcome them heartily,” Cadle said. He believes the impact will reach far beyond an increase in property tax revenue. He said the population spike will affect every aspect of life.
Because Special Forces soldiers usually are “well-paid military folks,” Cadle said he hopes their presence will improve the city’s chances of attracting new businesses. “It’s always been a strong community for active military and I think it will continue,” he said.