Today is National POW/MIA Day. Today, we also remember and give thanks to Mrs. Mary Helen Hoff, an Orange Park resident, whose husband was shot down during the Vietnam War. Mrs. Hoff fought tirelessly to adopt a symbol to remember her husband and all others listed as POW/MIA. 🇺🇸

Twenty five years ago today, a 62 year old man with cancer in his bones walked 2,687 people out of the South Tower, and then he went back inside. Rick Rescorla was born in Hayle, Cornwall in 1939. British Parachute Regiment in Cyprus at 18. Colonial police in Northern Rhodesia. Then he came to America, enlisted in the US Army in 1963, and in November 1965 he went into the Ia Drang Valley as a platoon leader with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. Hal Moore called him the best platoon leader he ever saw. His men called him Hard Core. He sang to them in the dark, Wild Colonial Boy in an Australian accent, because he had worked out that men who are singing are not men who are panicking. That is Rescorla on the cover of We Were Soldiers Once and Young, bayonet fixed. Thirty five years later he was head of security for Dean Witter, later Morgan Stanley, in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. In 1990 he brought in his old friend Dan Hill and the two of them walked the basement. He warned the Port Authority that the parking garage was wide open, that somebody could drive in a truck full of explosives, walk out and light it off. Nothing was done. Three years later the 1993 bomb went off about thirty feet from the spot he had flagged. After that he told Morgan Stanley the towers were still a target and the next attack would come out of the sky. He wanted the firm to leave Manhattan. The lease ran to 2006, so they stayed. Twenty two floors of the South Tower, roughly 2,700 people. So he drilled them. Every three months, everyone, no exceptions, down the stairwells two abreast while he stood there with a stopwatch. Traders pulling seven figures resented being marched down concrete stairs by a Cornishman with a clipboard. He kept doing it anyway. 8:46 a.m. The North Tower is hit. Port Authority comes over the South Tower loudspeakers and tells everyone the building is secure and to go back to their desks. Rescorla picks up a bullhorn and tells his people to get out. He phones Dan Hill. "The dumb sons of bitches told me not to evacuate. They said it's just Building One. I told them I'm getting my people out of here." 9:03 a.m. The second plane hits the South Tower, floors 77 through 85. His people are already in the stairwells, moving exactly the way they had been drilled, and Rescorla is on the bullhorn singing to them. Cornish songs. A version of Men of Harlech he had rewritten for Cornwall. Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming, can't you see their spearpoints gleaming. He called his wife Susan from the stairs. They had been married two and a half years, met jogging in New Jersey. He told her to stop crying, that he had to get these people out safely, and that if something happened to him he wanted her to know he had never been happier, that she made his life. Someone told him to get out. He said, as soon as I make sure everyone else is out. 2,687 Morgan Stanley employees went home that day. Thirteen did not, and four of those were Rescorla and the men who stayed in the building with him: Wesley Mercer, Jorge Velazquez, Godwin Forde. He was last seen on the 10th floor, walking up. The South Tower fell at 9:59. They never found him.

A big thank you to the NEFAR Southwest Area Council for the invitation to speak yesterday afternoon! Sheriff Michelle Cook, Supervisor of Elections Chambless, and I enjoyed a great conversation about all things Clay County. We appreciate the opportunity to connect!

The hubby and I at the @FLSheriffs 2026 Summer Conference

Promotions are the best! These guys are the future of CCSO and I’m super proud of them.

Happy Birthday America! 250 looks great on you!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

tom brady just narrated all-time American sports moments for America 250 and its fucking awesome

On July 2, 1776, delegates for the 13 American colonies voted to approve a resolution submitted by Richard Henry Lee announcing "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown." With the vote complete, Congress began editing Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, getting ready to announce the decision to the world. Painting of the Committee of Five presenting the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress by John Trumbull. #history #IndependenceDay #Freedom250

Thank You President Bill Carbone and the FBINAA for the invitation to speak at the national conference.

An incredible performance.

The Star-Spangled Banner hits different on home soil at the FIFA World Cup 🇺🇸

We’ve had local kids participate. This is a great idea!!

One of the greatest speeches of the late 20th century, given on the 40th anniversary of one of the most spectacular days in human history.

Thank You @AGJamesUthmeier for recognizing Det. Solis as the 2025 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Solis was recognized for her “exceptional investigative work on one of the most horrific child exploitation & human trafficking cases in Clay County Sheriff’s Office history.”

WATCH: Vice President JD Vance's Rededicate 250 message: “I always ask people to pray for wisdom and for courage for their leadership. Pray for wisdom that we know the path God wants us to walk. Pray for courage that we have the ability to walk that path.”

I'm proud to continue celebrating our brave men and women in law enforcement, especially during National Police Week. “With Senator Moody’s leadership, the State of Florida is seeing an all-time low violent crime rate.” Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook is a true fighter for her community and I am so grateful to have her support!

Thankful for my family ❤️ Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms making it happen!

This week, sheriffs’ offices from across Florida came together for the FSA Task Force Operations and Hurricane Response training. Over three days, 40 sheriffs’ offices and nearly 100 attendees worked side by side to strengthen coordination, communication, and readiness ahead of hurricane season. This training is the foundation for how we respond when disasters occur. From establishing forward operating teams and understanding disaster assistance agreements, to refining communication protocols and working alongside state partners, each session focused on real-world application. Participants engaged directly with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and toured the State Emergency Operations Center, reinforcing how local and state resources align during a crisis. Attendees participated in building and sustaining all-hazards response plans, ensuring every agency leaves prepared to serve their communities in disasters. When a storm is headed our way, Florida’s sheriffs are not starting from scratch. They already know each other, they know the plan, and they know how to work together to get help where it is needed. That work is happening now.