Posted on 01/04/2018 12:51:49 PM PST by ransomnote
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Behind the scenes, the U.S. military is planning for nearly a half-billion dollars in new construction during the Trump administration, including a Navy request to build a $250 million, five-bed hospital here that has been singled out for study by a Senate committee.
Despite President Donald J. Trump's campaign promise to reduce costs at the remote U.S. Navy base -- at one point he mused that his new Cuba policy might import cheap, local labor from across the minefield -- the Pentagon's appetite to spend at this outpost of about 5,500 residents and 41 wartime prisoners continues unsated.
In two other major projects, Congress is poised to give the Army $124 million to build a new barracks for 848 prison troops to be ready four years from now. And on a different corner of the base, the Pentagon is soliciting bids of up to $100 million to build a skeletal structure for a 13,000-migrant tent city and housing for 5,000 U.S. forces.
But it was the hospital plan that prompted the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee to ask Defense Secretary James Mattis to conduct an analysis of "remote locations with high family support costs" -- noting the "proposed $250 million replacement hospital at Guantanamo Bay would cost $50 million per bed."
The Senate tasked Mattis to undertake a "comprehensive study" that essentially asks the Pentagon to take a hard look at the costs of bringing families to distant, remote places like Guantanamo Bay and Kwajalein in the South Pacific. The Pentagon proposes to build 52 family homes at a cost of $1.3 million each on the atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Senate, however, called small post, so-called unaccompanied tours, costly, "which is a primary reason why locations such as Diego Garcia are unaccompanied."
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Interesting.
As you say, GITMO is not remote yet there’s a number of flights leaving FL peninsula that are climbing to 40 thousand feet before landing at the Cuban base. That altitude for that little hop flight. Some of those flights are escorted. Many have transponders turned off or blocked. Inordinate number of flights currently heading to GITMO with no call sign. Interesting.
...USE...
Not as short a flight as you think. I did that flight from Miami, and it is several hours in a CASA. Reason is you can’t enter Cuba’s airspace.
Kind of a bummer.
I’d say OK if they will put nobama, hilLIARy, bill, lynch, abedin and other criminal political losers in there for the rest of their collectively worthless lives.
Agree with you, interesting. Seeing as how the Castros were the biggest coke dealers in the Carribean, with their Colombian Shining Path buddies (and Hezbollah, which is still in the mtns of Colombia, it is said— and thus fitting into the recent revelations of obamaumao overlooking the dope dealing of Hezbollah, to get the Iran Deal, heroin be damned and with the oh so important French Connection criminals of Marseille approval). People have no idea.
From Key West it’s only 90 mi to Havana. So if those flights are climbing to 40K they gotta drop back down pretty fast to land there, or wherever on the island.
An “Aviocar” CASA or a C295 CASA (twin engine transport, c130-like)— both Spanish made?
Guess it would take a while— prop flight, out over Great Inaqua then around the end of Cuba (East) then up to Gitmo airfield.
It was a different era in the 60’s (obviously)— friend said they could see Russian freighters come in drafting high and then leaving weighted to the gunnels. Barter— no cash. And a show with Cousteau’s son interviewing Fidel— he opened a drawer full of US treasury checks for annual rent of Gitmo, honored since the Spanish American war victory over Spain for a “free” Cuba. Such a shame how it ended up.
Can’t they park a hospital ship close by a lot cheaper??????? 50 mil a bed? Sounds like someone is getting too rich off the project.
We should only need to spend about a quarter of what we do on defense—and what we buy ought to work better for that too.
Congress is poised to give the Army $124 million to build a new barracks for 848 prison troops to be ready four years from now. To be named the Benedict Arnold Wing, and house traitors to the republic.
And on a different corner of the base, the Pentagon is soliciting bids of up to $100 million to build a skeletal structure for a 13,000-migrant tent city Welcome MS 13 and all human trafficking friends to your new home.
and housing for 5,000 U.S. forces. Because this place is going to be a great tool to increase troop accuracy on live targets of opportunity.
That last made me lol!
I couldn’t resist. The content was just too rich with potential to leave a more serious response.
Less expensive than a hospital ship, just for islamo-terrorists would be an Army portable field hospital— we have lots of them, and can fly one in— just fine, with surgical suites, recovery beds, etc. Don’t need a damn hospital with only 5 beds. Aside from the added cost to bring in the materials to build it, a commercial “walk in” clinic wouldn’t begin to approach this amount in the US, built from scratch.
You’re right.
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