by David Chapman
Staff Writer
The barracks at Naval Air Station Jacksonville aren’t the ones your father might have seen — nor is much of anything the same at the longtime Jacksonville station situated along the St. Johns River.
And that’s not a negative.
Commanding Officer Capt. Jack Scorby addressed more than 80 members of the Meninak Club of Jacksonville Monday on capital improvement projects that have transformed the base’s quality of life for its fleet, fighters and their families, along with insight on some of Scorby’s duties as commanding officer and base facts.
With 51,000 officers — 281,000 enlisted active duty, 67,000 reservists — the sheer number of people is down from heights many years ago. But it’s not the economy or a shortfall of talented people — instead, Scorby said the base is providing the same service with fewer personnel.
“We have some of the best people,” he said. “You all should be proud.”
Those people Scorby referred to offer more than just service to their country — they offer the area an economic boost of massive proportions. Scorby said annually more than $1 billion is pumped into the local economy through payroll along with more than $400 million in goods and services.
Although Scorby has several priorities, one of his key issues is creating quality of life factors that boost morale for those stationed at NAS.
As such, capital improvements to venues, amenities and necessities like child development centers, a marina, a flying club, a veterinary clinic, cabin lodging and such have been added over time.
There’s more to Scorby’s position than just quality of life issues, though. As commanding officer, he also oversees several other areas including Whitehouse Field (an outlying field of former NAS Cecil Field), Pinecastle (the only impact range on the East Coast), and Yellow Water (naval housing around Cecil Field).
In addition, he helps ensure NAS Jacksonville is a good energy and environmental steward as well as a good neighbor in ways such as properly timed takeoffs and landings as well as emergency support relief in case of emergency.
One of his biggest struggles tends to be against real estate developments encroaching on the different bases. For instance, Whitehouse Field is set up like that of an aircraft carrier for takeoffs and landings, but pilots would lose aspects of training situations if it were immediately surrounded by homes, strips malls and the like.
For Scorby, speaking of NAS Jacksonville’s many accomplishments and future plans to groups and organizations is part of keeping the community involved.
“Any time you’re able to go out and tell the story of the Navy, your Navy, their Navy, it’s important,” said Scorby. “It was an opportunity to share with a wonderful organization like Meninak.”
For Meninak — many of whom have served in the Navy and other military forces themselves — getting such updates keeps them in tune with all the happenings.
“Many Meninaks are Navy guys themselves,” said Kent Lindsey, president-elect of the organization. “To hear from Capt. Scorby and get an update (on NAS Jacksonville) it’s comforting ... it’s valuable for this organization.”
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