With remnants of National Guard troops doing maneuvers near a large portable tent nearby, citizens and local officials gathered Friday to witness the California National Guard ceremoniously changing command of the Joint Forces Training Base.
With the sheer presence of a banquet hall filled with everyday citizens and their elected leaders, it was evident that the initial mission of former JFTB commander Lt. Col. Daniel R. Fox to reintegrate the base with nearby communities had been a success, as he stoically relinquished command of the base.
Furthermore, with hundreds of troops still on the base following one of the most consequential buildups since World War II, it was also evident that Fox had handled a mission that he could never have anticipated when he left the Pentagon to command the once-sleepy training base in Los Alamitos…