Comments on: Graven Images

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 16:42:45 +0000

In reply to Badtux.

Yeah, the bases were closed because “ther were surplus to current military requirements” and now DoD wants more land. Unless they intend to restart the draft, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Is there anything special about the area they want, i.e. something similar to current or proposed combat zones? I would think that Pendleton & 29 Palms pretty much cover current operations.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:10:35 +0000

Most of the bases that have been closed have been bases that don’t have a lot of land for use for training, mostly air bases. I think Fort Chaffee was probably the biggest training base that closed, and it’s only *sort* of closed (it’s used by the National Guard now). The really big training bases like Fort Polk or 29 Stumps are still open and used for training. In particular all of the big desert training bases here in California are still open, which is why I’m baffled that suddenly they need *more* land for training, even though the Army and USMC are miniscule in size compared to the heart of the Cold War….

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 23:59:05 +0000

You are correct that 29 Palms or Pendleton would make more sense as there is space and the desert environment as well as all of the Naval/Marine facilities that surround San Diego.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 22:06:12 +0000

Yeah, offshore oil rigs are not a good idea when Eglin is dropping bombs in the
Gulf. So many bases have been closed that space for training is becoming a problem. They have been consolidating things at Eglin after closing other facilities, and they have gone over board.

Eglin has to keep accepting new missions to remain open. At any time Congress could decide to close the base to give the land to donors. It is an uncomfortable relationship – support Eglin or the environment will get trashed by greedy developers or the oil scum.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 21:09:15 +0000

Yeah, the Marines are taking Johnson Valley here in California for training even though they have plenty of land at 29 Stumps. What I can’t figure is this — we have the smallest military now since before WW2. Why do they need *more* land to train than the WW2 military needed?!

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 16:09:46 +0000

back in 2014ish:

http://wuwf.org/post/residents-against-military-training-blackwater-river-state-forest

http://wuwf.org/post/final-hearing-regarding-military-training-blackwater-river-state-forest

more recent (though I can’t decipher from this whether they’re still at it)

https://www.enterpriseflorida.com/wp-content/uploads/FDSTF-Strategic-Plan-2017.pdf

the killer thing about it all is that the military wanting to keep northwest Florida’s wilderness and water for itself is the only thing that’s keeping the fracking and offshore oil rigs away from here.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 15:22:02 +0000

Well they have discovered that if you drop bombs on them you tend to lose trees that you need to practice moving through a forest. We are being led by people who think that life has a reset button…

It is probably the Special Forces that want the space.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 14:29:11 +0000

Eglin has a half-million acre national forest on the reservation as well as dozen of ranges for blowing things up. Eglin takes up a lot of Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties.

and now they want to use blackwater river state forest for training, so I guess they’ve already used up all their half-million acres in your part of the world and they want to start taking over the trees in my part of the world.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 02:23:26 +0000

A half dozen of those fields are used for various organizations. Hurlburt Field, home of the Air Force Special Ops Command is Field 9 near the coast. Duke Field, Field 3, is up by I-10. The 7th Special Forces Brigade uses another. The Army Ranger School uses a field in the southeast of Eglin, and the now closed Federal prison camp was also located at a auxiliary field. Eglin has a half-million acre national forest on the reservation as well as dozen of ranges for blowing things up. Eglin takes up a lot of Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 16:54:29 +0000

What is hilarious is flying over where you live on Google Earth and seeing all the old auxiliary fields or remnants thereof. Shows you just how extensive the Eglin and Pensacola NAS facilities really were back in the day…