Or is it more of an injection of taxpayer $$ via State/Fed PORK for as far as the eye can see.
‘World police’, while neglecting our own borders, takes a WHOLE lot of $$, peoples and exotic locations...while propping up Socialism in the area (IE: not having to pay for their OWN army/security, they have more of OPM to blow)
I was one of the last 15 families leaving Mather AFB in south Sacramento when it closed in 1993. I relinquished control of 65 facilities when they took them and released me to my new, and last, assignment. At that time, the surrounding city of Rancho Cordova was thriving with shops, restaurants, and an industrial section and railways, along with having an easy drive to two malls. The populous could easily be compared to any small town near Sacramento.
Went back in 2009 just to look around and it was a disaster. Hardly any shops were open, the industrial section had grown but that brings a different atmosphere to the area much tougher and dirtier than the little town I drove away from.
I remember Sen. Dan Inouye from California saying how the closing of Mather would have no impact on the surrounding area. He, and everyone else that saw dollars in the runway and building possibilities, was wrong. They even got the Sacramento Kings to use the athletic facilities for a training area which lasted for about a year. But when that base closed for south Sacramento, I remember Don MaClean’s the day the music died. Very appropriate.
rwood
While mentioning the unmanned mission at Fort Huachuca, they probably should have included the new simulator at Davis-Monthan, the new F-35A training mission at Luke which will easily last 25 years and the new F-35C missions at Yuma also likely to be around a few decades.
NAS SOUTH WEYMOUTH, MA. 1942-1997. South Weymouth fell into its own depression after the base was closed. The planned “luxury homes development” failed after builders discovered that money was short and 55 years of toxic ground pollution couldn’t be overcome. The former base is now a desolate mess.