Last month I did something I almost never do: I paid a visit to my past.
I was in Monterey, Calif., on business and decided to take off an hour or so to drive out to Fort Ord, a place that had played a major role in my development as a young man. At first, I wished I hadn't.
Many of you baby boomers, particularly the males, recognize Fort Ord as a West Coast basic training site during the Vietnam War and, for two decades, the home of the 7th Infantry Division. It was a beautiful place overlooking Monterey Bay, sitting amidst some of the most expensive real estate in California.
It was also a hub of frenetic activity, as young men and women trained for future battles.
It was alive with the sound of small arms fire, as soldiers honed their marksmanship skills. The smell of diesel fuel permeated the air, as "deuce-and-a-half" trucks made their way back and forth from the surrounding training areas. Several generations of helicopters, from Cobras to Black Hawks to Apaches, filled the skies. At the crack of dawn, the early morning calm was usually broken by the sound of thousands of soldiers, all running in formation and, at the top of their lungs, chanting "jodies" you probably wouldn't want your mother to hear.
| The early morning calm was usually broken by the sound of thousands of soldiers, all running in formation and, at the top of their lungs, chanting "jodies" you probably wouldn't want your mother to hear. |
It was an exciting place, a place of serious purpose. It was a part of my youth. And as I drove out the main gate after 30 minutes of driving around looking for some of my old hangouts, I had tears in my eyes.
Fort Ord still sits quietly on the same hillsides overlooking Monterey Bay, only now, instead of the staccato sound of machinegun fire, you might occasionally hear the traffic from Highways 1 and 101, which border the east and west sides of the old base. And at the crack of dawn, instead of hearing the sound of feet pounding on the pavement and voices chanting, all that's left now is the occasional sound of sea gulls.
You see, Fort Ord was a victim of its own success, one of the many military bases shut down in the early- to mid-1990s and turned over to the state or local community. Instead of young soldiers, college students from the University of California at Monterey Bay now occupy this oceanfront setting -- but they only occupy a small portion of it. The rest sits idle, waiting for new tenants to bring it back to life.
Fort Ord is just one of many former military bases scattered throughout the United States. Some, like Sacramento Army Depot with Packard Bell, have attracted new occupants. Others are still searching. Most would represent ideal industrial manufacturing facilities. Some, like Fort Ord, would also make excellent high-technology campuses.
One thing all of them have in common: they have available land and facilities, and their new civilian owners are willing to offer attractive deals to companies like yours interested in moving in and occupying these old facilities.
That's where the bright future comes in -- it's another example of our country turning swords into plowshares.
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