Interested in the upcoming March 9, 2021 City of FWB election? Twelve candidates are running to fill three seats on the City Council. The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce & the local NAACP hosted this candidate forum on February 2, 2021 at the City Auditorium. The forum was moderated by Michelle Anchors.

Candidates:
Nic Allegretto
Gloria DeBerry
Jason Floyd
Sean T. Murphy
David Schmidt
Debra Riley
Brad Roehrig
Michael James Rojas
Travis Smith
Gareth Allan Stearns
Sonya Lynn Vazquez
T. Payne Walker

Location:
Fort Walton Beach Civic Auditorium
107 Miracle Strip Pkwy, SE
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548

Date/Time Information:
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
5:00PM-8:00P

Contact Information:
(850) 244-8191

On October 22, 2022, the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted the Inaugural ODA 595 Horse Soldiers Reunion at the Northwest Florida Fairgrounds.  Ted Corcoran, CEO of the FWB Chamber, was Master of Ceremony.

Below is a replay video of the event. If you have a Smart TV, search for and install the VidFlow app to watch this video on your big screen TV. This video player also also you to select chapter points to specific speakers and presentations.

Ten of the original 12 members of ODA 595 were in attendance for this inaugural reunion event.

Captain Mark Nutsch – Detachment Commander

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bob Pennington – Assistant Detachment Commander

Master Sergeant Paul Evans – Team and Operations Sergeant

Sergeant First Class Andy Marchal – Intelligence Sergeant

Sergeant First Class Steve Kofron.  – Weapons Sergeant

Staff Sergeant Mike Elmore – Weapons Sergeant

Staff Sergeant Chad Jacklet– Engineer Sergeant

Sergeant First Class Steve Bleigh—Medical Sergeant

Sergeant First Class Vince Makela – Communications Sergeant

Staff Sergeant Will Summers– Communications Sergeant

Not in Attendance:

• Staff Sergeant USAF Steve E. Tomat – Tactical Air Control Party (TACP)
• Staff Sergeant USAF Joseph Matt Lienhard– Air Force Special Operations Combat Controller from Special Tactics Squadron

Several prominent guest speakers included Florida House District #4 representative Patt Maney, former CIA Directorate of Operations officer Alex Hernandez, former USAF Chief of Staff for a Theater Special, retired Col Glenn Thomas, and the son of Doolittle Raiders Col Dick Cole, Richard Cole.

A special commemorative canteen cup was created by the Bohlin Company and presented to each member of ODA 595 in honor and recognition of their heroic actions in America’s first response against the Taliban after the 911 attack.

If you are interested in learning more about ODA 595 as well as other stories about America’s 1st response to the 911 attacks, check out these sources:

First Casualty by Toby Harnden

Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton

Swords of Lightning – Green Beret Horse Soldiers and America’s Response to 911

12 Strong – The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers