Special Operations Command will remain at Okaloosa's Hurlburt Field, 600 others to move

The Air Force Special Operations Command will remain at its home at Okaloosa County's Hurlburt Field, but about 600 of the nearly 9,000 service members stationed at the base will be relocated to Davis-Monthan Air Base in Arizona over the next five years.

US Sen. Rick Scott released a statement on the changes after a conversation with Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. Scott was informed during the call that the men and women being relocated will be tasked with helping to establish the 492nd Special Operations Wing at the Arizona Base.

During a Wednesday conference call, Scott and US. Rep. Matt Gaetz vowed to be "very aggressive" in fighting to keep the Special Operations Command intact at Hurlburt Field. They had been informed that Kendall wanted to speak to them Friday to discuss "programmatic basing actions" involving Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

More:Matt Gaetz, Rick Scott fear Air Force may move Special Ops command off Hurlburt Field

The base is home to 26,000 active duty service members, their families and contract workers, Scott said.

The lawmakers reported Wednesday being unable to confirm anything since receiving the cryptic message from Kendall and the Air Force had been tight lipped about revealing anything else before Friday.

“I’ve been fighting all week against the potential move of the Air Force Special Operations Command and asking for transparency from the Biden administration," Scott said in his Friday news release. "I just got off the phone with the Secretary of the Air Force and was informed that the Air Force Special Operations Command will continue its strong presence at Hurlburt Field."

The Special Operations Command has been at Hurlburt Field since 1990.

"It’s clearly the best place in the nation to train the most lethal military force possible, and for our military members and their families to live," Scott said. "The quality of life for our service members and families in Florida, especially in Okaloosa County and the Florida Panhandle, is unmatched."

More:Leonardo Helicopters maintenance facility to land outside NAS Whiting Field in Milton | PHOTOS

Scott credited the Panhandle communities for "going above and beyond to support and welcome our military community, provide opportunities for their family members and ensure their children have access to the best education possible."

"Our service members want to be stationed in Florida," he said in the release. "And I’ll fight like hell to make sure they don’t lose that opportunity at the whim of a political decision by the Biden administration and that Florida’s military presence continues to grow.”

The impending announcement from the Air Force hung over a Friday morning celebration at Santa Rosa County's Whiting Field Aviation Park where ground was broken to build an 113,000-square-foot Leonardo Helicopter maintenance facilities that will service helicopters used for training at the Whiting Field Naval Base next door.

Having a civilian maintenance facility so closely located and heavily associated with the Navy base will put Santa Rosa County in "perfect position to not only solidify the status of Whiting Field here, but send a message that Florida is going to support the military," state Sen. Doug Broxson told the Pensacola News Journal.