Hasta la vista, baby? "Always be careful what you ask for, you just may get it! One of the many headaches that the U. S. has had was the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques.

In the waning years of the Clinton administration, Protesters demanded that the US Navy abandon bombing and naval gun fire exercises that had taken place on the largely uninhabited island for nearly seventy years.

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.

In 2002, the bombing exercises were transferred to an Air Force bombing range in central 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."

The following Feb, 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. We are interested in both staying in Puerto Rico."

When asked, the 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!

On February 21, the Secretary of Defense also announced that starting this year, the U.S. European Command would begin moving most if not all of its active combat and support units from bases in Germany to others being established in Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey to "better position them for rapid deployment to likely hot spots in those parts of the world".

Immediately the business and government leaders in the German states of Hesse, Rhineland and Wurttemburg, protested the loss of nearly $6 billion in revenue each year from the bases and manpower to be displaced. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry speculated that the move may be "what the Americans call 'payback' for the actions of this government in opposing military action in Iraq ." Does anyone know the German translation for "Hasta la vista, baby?"


I don't know who to credit for this since I got it in an email from Valhall, BUT I think it is SWEET!

PEACE...
m...

Springer, excellent post. It's about time someone kicked these so-called "allies" in the balls.

Good.

Its about time we left Germany. Although it still sucks that we arent removing our forces all together, but putting the new bases alsewhere instead.....

But, its a start. And yes, this will really cause alot of economic problems in Germany. When the first base I was stationed on was closed down, the town of Bitburg really suffered considerably. The only thing keeping the economy from total death was the brewery.

Hessen, where my second was, was chock full of American communities, as well as the Rheinland. The Rheinland has K-Town (Kaiserslautern) which has often been called "little America" as its the largest community of Americans outside the US with some 30,000 of us, at least when I was there. I cant believe they shall close that down too.

The Germans bitched and moaned about us being there for years. And we bitched and moaned about us being there. So now we are both getting what we both want, at least in part. But yes, this will cause alot of smaller economies to suffer alot of damage. I poured entire paychecks into the German beer industry alone!

I am still pissed, however, that we arent removing our forces completely from Europe all together. I suppose that will come in time. But will it come in enough time?

Were the openly hostile to you in Germnay because you were a U.S. Soldier? I experienced a little of that in the Phillippines when I was in the service.

When they shut down the Subic Bay Naval base it literally wiped whole towns off the map economically. THOUSANDS of people were employed by Uncle Sam over their.

I would like to see us remove ALL of out troops from Europe as well but I doubt we will...

I say we move them to countries in the Middle East that are anti terror and support them for being pro humanity.

P...
m...

You just might get it!!!

I'm glad to see that Poland is being considered for these moves. I was the MST Chief for the first NATO exercise held in Poland, a pre-req for their entry into NATO. Spend months there planning and coordinating at Posnan and Yesno (Spelled that wrong, I'm sure...sorry Poland!) and made some great friends, both military and civilian, and I can say that they really like Americans there. They are so glad to be rid of the Russians you would not believe it! I hope to go back some day as a tourist and look up some old friends, especially a young lady in Posnan...

Great Post!

I also am glad we are forging better relations with Poland. Just think about how many Polish-Americans there are - its only natural.

Besides, they make yummy sausages! Mmmmm....sausage....(lip smacking noise).

Springer,

They werent always aware I was a soldier, many assumed I was a tourist. So, even as an assumed tourist, they were obnoxious and rude. It all depended on where you were at in Germany tho. Some palces they were very polite. I went out of my way to make sure I spoke German when communicating with the locals, to somewhat disguise the fact, but the accent always gave it away.

How many of us over there, during our tour there, wished and hoped and wanted badly to go back home. No one wanted to be in Germany, everyone in the military wanted to get stationed stateside. Germany was simply foreign, unfriendly cold territory. I dont think sending us to Poland would be good tho, we should instead work on helping the Polish and other Eastern European countries set up thier own strong and self sufficient militarys. They could do it. The Poles have alot of balls, just look how they, even as Germany rolled in with big tanks, said # it, and charged em on horseback rather than give up and surrender. THATS BALLS.

During my time overseas, I learned there really isnt anyplace in the world where American soldiers need to be. We arent wanted, and frankly, we really dont have any reason to be anyplace we are at now. We are much better off in our own country defending it, thast really shoots up morale, saves money, ect.

The libbys, the foreigners, always squak about US military leaving. I agree. What pisses me off is then thesquak about all the jobs lost and economies destroyed, ect. So what? Move elsewhere then. The return of the US military to US soil would help boost alot of local economies here, and even when soldiers get rowdy, as a rule, here in the states, many towns are very happy to have the soldiers there locally, its a source of pride for us.

There is no place, Springer, in the middle east, that is anti terrorist pro American. Thus, there is no place in the middle east for us. We dont need thier oil. We have ehtanol, and we have other things we can devlop.

# the world. Been there, seen it, done that, and found nothing beyond my own borders that was worth dying over, nothing overseas in the world worth seeing or experiencing. Im sure amny soldiers would agree. So lets bring them all home, period, and stop wasting billions defending other countries from themselves.

This is a smart move by the Navy, lets see how their economy does around the closed base...I think that technology will eventually eliminate the need for bases abroad...or a least significantly decrease the need for overseas bases.

Originally posted by groovyguru
This is a smart move by the Navy, lets see how their economy does around the closed base...I think that technology will eventually eliminate the need for bases abroad...or a least significantly decrease the need for overseas bases.

about puetro rico, if they ever get invaded by cuba, i say let cuba have it.

Originally posted by Springer
Were the openly hostile to you in Germnay because you were a U.S. Soldier? I experienced a little of that in the Phillippines when I was in the service.

When they shut down the Subic Bay Naval base it literally wiped whole towns off the map economically. THOUSANDS of people were employed by Uncle Sam over their.

I would like to see us remove ALL of out troops from Europe as well but I doubt we will...

I say we move them to countries in the Middle East that are anti terror and support them for being pro humanity.

P...
m...

remove all US military presence from europe? thats not a good idea. say putin gets wacked and some harliners come to power and want to reclaim all the land of the old soviet empire? then what? you want to leave europe open for IVAN to take?

Originally posted by Pyros
Great Post!

I also am glad we are forging better relations with Poland. Just think about how many Polish-Americans there are - its only natural.

Besides, they make yummy sausages! Mmmmm....sausage....(lip smacking noise).

no germans make better sausages.