Bombing Range at Vieques, Puerto Rico

[82Rigger]

One of the many headaches that George W. Bush inherited from his predecessor
was the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. In the waning years of the Clinton
administration, protesters demanded that the U.S. Navy abandon bombing and
naval gun fire exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited
island for nearly seventy years.

It became a leftist cause. Liberal icons bumped into one another to fly to
Puerto Rico, boat over to the island, trespass (but never on a day that
there was an exercise scheduled) and get arrested for the benefit of the New
York Times or Newsweek. They included the Reverend Al Sharpton, Mrs. Jesse
Jackson, Joan Baez, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Edward Olomos, Michael Moore and
Ramsey Clark, just to name a few.

Hillary Clinton, then running for the U.S. Senate in New York, chastised the
U.S. Navy for not bowing to the "will of the citizens of Puerto Rico", until
her husband, a week before the election, issued an executive order to phase
out the facility by 2003, despite recommendations to the contrary by his own
Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Operations.

In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing
range in Florida, not far from the Jacksonville and Pensacola Naval
Air Stations. In January, many of the protesters were back in Puerto Rico,
celebrating the final bombing exercise on Vieques and waved Puerto Rican
flags and placards that read "U.S. Navy, get out of Puerto Rico."

On February 21, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the U.S.
Navy will close the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico in
2004, eliminating 1200 civilian jobs as well as 700 military positions. This
naval facility is estimated to put nearly $300 million annually into the
local economy.

The next day a stunned Governor Sila Calderon, held a news conference in San
Juan, protesting the base closure as a serious blow to Commonwealth's
fragile economy. The governor stated that "The people of Puerto Rico don't
now or never did have an interest in closing the Vieques bombing range or
the Roosevelt Roads naval base. My government is interested in both staying
in Puerto Rico."

When asked, Admiral Robert J. Natter, Commander-in-Chief, Western Atlantic
Command, said, "Without Vieques, I see no further need for the facility at
Roosevelt Roads. None."

So... Yanqui go home?

Fine.

But we'll take our dollars with us.

Hasta la vista, baby!

[Packo]

You Just May Get It!

Great story........poetic justice.

Basa May Culo Puerto Rico!

Packoneesta

[Jerry D]

and I hear they are going to use the old bombing range as a National Reserve like they have in the Artic of Alaska .There goes developers dreams of making Visquess another beach resort location LOL

[Seascamp]

It would seem that Jessie has a perpetual cause identity crisis. Around the time the USS Missouri was being decommissioned and leaving San Francisco for good, Jessie was all out and up in arms about lost Bay Area jobs, etc. But with the PR scenario, he was all for lost jobs and the closure of a US Naval base. I suppose the thought ?Ya can?t be two places at once when you?re no place at all? fits well in his kit.

If nothing else, the USN is very predictable and repeatable in applying the principal and practice of ?no ticky, no ronry? and apparently the PR Governor has discovered that reality.

Scamp

[39mto39g]

A long long time ago when PD became a commonwealth it also had a chance to become a state, The citizens voted no on statehood but yes to being a commonwealth, WHY--- you ask.
Because being a commonwealth entiles you to all the government services without the taxation of statehood.
Instantly 80% of PR was elegable for welfair. And they took it.
I hear PR is a nice place, Don't know, don't care,

Ron

[Andy]

The closing of that naval base in not a popular decision around here. We have a very large PR population. The welfare payments in PR are much smaller than in this state and New York, as a result a lot of folks have moved to this area. With the base being closed, there will no doubt be another large influx of people from South of Florida.
Some of these people are real go getters and have made a positive impact on the community, opening businesses, getting educations. However the % of people from PR who are on welfare is higher than any "racial" group in the state.
Yes, it's quite funny that they got what they asked for and now they don't like it. However, someone will have to pay and in part it's my state. Glad I don't have to pay state taxes.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[MARINEVET]

...poetic justice of sorts (and hope we do the same thing in some other areas of the World), many here in the CamLej area aren't too keen about it because now the Navy is starting to use some of the range impact areas out towards Onslow Beach in support of both the Navy exercising their 127mm (5"/54) guns and our USMC folks on the shore side "calling fires"...that which USED TO BE DONE in Vieques PR.

Rounds don't "fly" over any housing areas, but still has locals who live "out that way" somewhat concerned even tho we've explained a gazillion times that there's very little chance (but always a possibility) for rounds from NGF to go astray w/re to deflection...that the bigger concern w/NGF is always Range Probable Error (RPE) and that that is not a problem given the way the ranges are set up/roads closed for firings (traffic re-routed)...etc. But again, and even tho folks say they understand, they still don't like it.

Ahhhhhhh...I remember "trips" to Vieques training areas quite well...crossing the bridge going into Isabella Segunda...taking "stuff" to trade for other "stuff"...those were certainly the days, and shouldya have come down with anything, most of the health concerns back then responded well to 3.5million units of procain penacillin...!

S/F,

[pighmpr]

Jumped onto that lovely piece of real estate in the spring of '69 with the 82nd. Those of us on the seaward side of the planes had a ocean view as we hit the door. It looked like we were going out over water. What a rush. Don't remember much except it was a lot of fun.
To bad they screwed themselves

[SuperScout]

Besides the obvious of who causes more harm to military preparedness and its attendant national security, who might examine the money trail of this ill-advised political move. What was the pardon price paid by the Puerto Rican terrorists to Bill Clinton for their Get-Outta-Jail card? These pardons, and the eventual giving away of this vital target practice area, are all woven together, forming yet another sad and pathetic page in the legacy of Clinton. Add this to the giveaway of the Panama Canal by Jimmy Carter and we should come to the realization that with another Democratic president, God forbid, he might rescind the Gadsden Purchase, the Louisana Purchase, buying Manhattan Island, and we might just left with nothing.