Safe For Another Year
Brick-a-BRAC
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
The Base Realignment And Closure Committe published its list today. And it looks like the Presidio of Monterey and Defense Language Institute are safe for another year. Much to the chagrin of the real estate speculators and doomsayers in the Korean school.
The base has been on the initial list every year since long before I was a student here but has always survived. Even during the lean years after Ft Ord closed down. And yet, every year the people that work on base get worked up over how this is "the year". When I got here about 18 months ago, there were rumors that 2004 was "the year". The inside the school gossip was so strong, that I was actually accused of being a liar and covering up for the Army! They were sure I knew the base was closing and just keeping it secret because I'd been ordered to.
I don't doubt that "the year" will come at some time in the future, but it's going to take something big to make us move. For one thing, it's not just a real estate issue. The language school has been here for over 50 years and the community has built an infrastructure that supports the language learning. We don't have small pockets of people speaking one language or another. We have populations of peoples from all over the world that have brought not only their language, but their culture, art, and history. We can do local field trips to museums and consulates. The area in Arizona that everyone "knows" we will move to has Nogales and a water shortage. So, I don't know that moving thousands of people to the middle of the desert is the best idea. We would lose so much in the "more than just grammar and vocabulary" category of language learning.
Here is a link where you can see the full results of the BRAC report .
My Ecosystem Details
The base has been on the initial list every year since long before I was a student here but has always survived. Even during the lean years after Ft Ord closed down. And yet, every year the people that work on base get worked up over how this is "the year". When I got here about 18 months ago, there were rumors that 2004 was "the year". The inside the school gossip was so strong, that I was actually accused of being a liar and covering up for the Army! They were sure I knew the base was closing and just keeping it secret because I'd been ordered to.
I don't doubt that "the year" will come at some time in the future, but it's going to take something big to make us move. For one thing, it's not just a real estate issue. The language school has been here for over 50 years and the community has built an infrastructure that supports the language learning. We don't have small pockets of people speaking one language or another. We have populations of peoples from all over the world that have brought not only their language, but their culture, art, and history. We can do local field trips to museums and consulates. The area in Arizona that everyone "knows" we will move to has Nogales and a water shortage. So, I don't know that moving thousands of people to the middle of the desert is the best idea. We would lose so much in the "more than just grammar and vocabulary" category of language learning.
Here is a link where you can see the full results of the BRAC report .
My Ecosystem Details
