Former Atlantic Beach mayor ‘expected more’ from Jax councilman being deployed to Middle East

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FLV) – Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond, who is being deployed to the Middle East, faced criticism from former Atlantic Beach Mayor Ellen Glasser for leaving the city, who said “we all expected more.”

Glasser expressed her opinion about Diamond on Twitter and then deleted the tweet shortly after.

“Our newly re-elected Beaches Councilman is not around very much,” she said. “Love our military, but this has been a pretty recent pivot in his life and this is his third deployment.”

“Maybe 6 months? I think we all expected more.”

The councilman shared Saturday that he is heading out to the Middle East for the next “several months” and said he is “excited and honored” to serve the community and the nation.

Republican Rory Diamond was first elected to the Neptune Beach City Council in 2016. He was then elected city councilman in 2019 to represent District 13 and was reelected to the seat in the March 2023 Duval County election.

Diamond serves as a Judge Advocate General Officer with the Florida National Guard and the U.S. Army.

Prior to his service to the country, Diamond was the chief executive officer of K9s For Warriors.

Under his leadership, K9s For Warriors grew into the nation’s largest provider of service dogs for disabled American veterans and the largest Service Dog agency in the world using primarily rescue dogs.

Diamond is a national advocate for American veterans focusing primarily on combat-related PTSD, traumatic brain Injuries, veteran suicide and veteran homelessness.

According to a study from 2020, Jacksonville was ranked number 21 for “best cities for veterans to live” out of the 100 largest cities across the U.S.