First, the good news. This week Tampa welcomed the Special Operations Forces Conference. It’s show-and-tell for Socom as well as show-and-sell for manufacturers and vendors at the Convention Center. In all, some 8,000 were here plus more than 300 exhibitors.
“The economic impact is pretty significant, and it also reinforces for the SOF world and the military what a great military city this is,” noted Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
Even better news, that high-profile, mid-week “capabilities demonstration” around the convention center that featured boats, assault vehicles, helicopters and even an Osprey tilt-wing aircraft had nothing to do with GOP convention plans.