Naval Station Mayport and Naval Air Station Jacksonville are the East Coast home for the MH-60Rs, and the nation's P-8A fleet and Triton operations facility are based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
On the First Coast, there's a team of individuals working extremely hard for the future of JAXPORT. On the road ahead, I look forward to working with them to see that the Port is afforded every opportunity to grow and expand. The challenge is large, but we are all up for it.
I never thought that one day that this NAS Jax would be the center of aviation excellence in the Southeast and from pole to pole.
I was stationed at a marine recruit depot in San Diego from 1965 to 1967.
South Jersey is home to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, one of the finest military installations in the world, and it was my honor to represent the base and all of those who serve there.
I have had no concerns in the past and have none moving forward regarding the Navy's ability to effectively address any potential natural or man-made threat to Naval Station Mayport and any military asset located there, including any future nuclear aircraft carrier.
I've been to a number of places and seen for myself the caliber of people who are in the Navy today - in all the services for that matter. This is an altogether different bunch. These people of today are really bright, young, good people.
I grew up in a Navy family, and like most service families, we traveled a lot and moved a lot. I grew up on both coasts and in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in Rockville, Maryland, and have had a great time doing it.
The United States has the largest and best navy in the world.
I'm very proud to be from Jacksonville.
Once our carrier fleet went all nuclear in 2005, we went from having two aircraft carrier homeports on the East Coast to one.