Congressman Dunn tours Tyndall Air Force Base, hoping to bring recovery plan to congress

(WCTV)
Published: Oct. 7, 2019 at 6:33 PM EDT
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

October 7, 2019

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -- With the first anniversary of Hurricane Michael quickly approaching, local Congressmen when to Tyndall Air Force Base Monday to see the damage one year later.

Congressman Neal Dunn toured Tyndall Monday, and with him, he brought Congressman Doug Lamborn from Colorado.

Congressman Dunn says he invited Congressman Lamborn along because he believes Lamborn's instrumental in getting the funding needed from Congress to rebuild Tyndall because of his title as Ranking Member of the Readiness Subcommittee on the House Armed Services Committee. They said they hope to bring a plan back to Capitol Hill for how to move forward with Tyndall's recovery process.

Congressman Dunn said, "We go back to Congress and literally we need to get the appropriations bill, because the planning and the projects, they're coming together very nicely back here, and you who have been here I know have seen this coming back in great fashion and on an amazing fast schedule, but we're trying to bed down four combat squadrons here by 2023."

Congressman Lamborn said, "Having come down here at the request of Neal Dunn, and having seen what the missions are here in Tyndall Air Force Base, I know that this is a national asset, I know that this is a place that needs to stay intact, it needs to be rebuilt, it needs to be better than ever, and we won't rebuild the old Tyndall, we'll rebuild the Tyndall of the future."

Both Congressmen said they were happy to see the progress made at Tyndall in the last year.

And as the two Congressman were touring Tyndall Air Force Base, what some say is a historic building on Tyndall was being demolished.

Hangar Five was heavily damaged during Hurricane Michael, with much of its roof missing. The hangar was originally built in 1962 and is 137,000 square feet, but the cost of fixing it would be more than tearing it down.

Tyndall officials say the demolition of it plays into their idea of "rebuilding the base they need, not the base they had."

There's currently no timeline for when they will be done with the demolition.