Our closest military neighbor is Hurlburt Field which is only 11 miles east of Navarre and many of the folks who work there live in Navarre. Hurlburt Field is the home of the Air Force Special Operations Command, the 16th Special Operations Wing, and the US Air Force Special Operations School. Aircraft based at Hurlburt include AC-130U and AC-130H Spectre gunships, MC-130P Combat Shadow tankers, MC-130H Combat Talon II, MC-130E Combat Talon, MH-53J Pave Low IIIE helicopters, and MH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters.
A little further east is Eglin Air Force Base. Eglin's mission includes the research, development, acquisition, test and evaluation of non-nuclear munitions and navigation/guidance systems. It is the world's largest military installation and is the home of the Air Force Development Test Center, one of the nation's premier research, development, test and evaluation facilities.
About 18 miles west is Pensacola Naval Air Station. Pensacola NAS began in April 1826 as the Pensacola Navy Yard and became one of the best equipped naval stations in the country. In its early years, the base dealt mainly with the suppression of slave trade and piracy in the Gulf and Caribbean. Today it is known as the "Cradle of Naval Aviation," and serves as the launching point for the flight training of every Naval Aviator, Naval Flight Officer (NFO), and Enlisted Aircrewman. Pensacola NAS is also home to the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (NFDS), the world famous Blue Angels.
North of Navarre, near Milton is Whiting Field. The Whiting complex, including its outlying fields, is the busiest Naval Air complex in the world. On an average day at Whiting's North and South Fields, more than 500 flights are launched, resulting in over 1,000 flight hours. During normal flight operations, an aircraft takes off or lands every 8 seconds. Today it hosts a fleet of over 200 T-34Cs and nearly 150 TH-57s.
Naval Technical Training Center Corry Station in Pensacola provides consolidated technical and military training in Cryptology, Electronic Warfare, Instructor Training, Optics, Instrumentation and Law Enforcement Personnel in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Allied Forces from 12 countries and DOD Civilians.
