When I was very young, I spent large chunks of my summer days playing golf at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. That’s one of the nice things about being a military brat during the Cold War, back when this country went to any and all lengths to provide for servicemen and their families — you could play a LOT of golf for practically no money at all. As I recall, at some base courses all I had to do was sign my name, provided my Dad had paid a nominal monthly fee, which he always did. Some people grew up on farms, or in suburbs. I grew up playing golf on military courses from Florida to Hawaii, or playing basketball with sailors at the base gym, or bowling in a high school league at the base lanes, etc.
Now, with bases closing, and bases that aren’t closing cutting back on amenities or opening them to the public to help pay for them, things are different.
In some ways, this is good, from my perspective. I figured out several years back that I can play at the course at the former Naval Air Station in Millington, Tenn. — where I spent even more hours back when I was still a dependent — even though I no longer have a military ID. That course is almost exactly as it was in the early 70s. It’s still run by the Navy, but it now bears the civvy sobriquet "Glen Eagle."
But last week, I had occasion to play the MB course (civilian name: "Whispering Pines") for the first time
since the base closed, and the experience was for me sadly different. Part of that was that I played it back in the days when there were only nine holes — the "back 9" consisted of playing the same holes from different tee boxes. There were days in my youth when I played — walking, and carrying my clubs on my back — 27 or 36 holes, and was none the worse for wear. Can’t do that any more.
There are 18 holes now (and I think there were before the base closed). So this time, I went to play the front nine and found only two holes to be as I remembered. I still had a nice time, but … I hate to see anything that was once military turn civilian (correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think this course is now run by local government). You may think that’s weird, but it’s what I grew up with. For
instance, there were the concrete pads in little hidden cul de sacs in the woods on the drive into the course, which were once there to hide warplanes from the Russkies in case we ever went toe-to-toe with them in nuclear combat. Those are now overgrown (right). To folks who grew up in the civilian world, particularly those of a pacifist stripe, this change might be seen as a positive development. To me, it’s a piece of ground that is somehow less purposeful, even less noble, than it was.
I did find the old Tactical Air Command shield etched into the glass of the door to the pro shop. But it’s companion shield, emblazoned with "Valor in Combat" had a paper sign taped over it urging visitors to "ASK US ABOUT 10% OFF MDSE…" This seemed just a bit tawdry to me.
But that’s just me.
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For instance, there were the concrete pads in little hidden cul de sacs in the woods on the drive into the course, which were once there to hide warplanes from the Russkies in case we ever went toe-to-toe with them in nuclear combat. Those are now overgrown (right). To folks who grew up in the civilian world, particularly those of a pacifist stripe, this change might be seen as a positive development. To me, it’s a piece of ground that is somehow less purposeful, even less noble, than it was.
-Brad
You are one sick puppy. By what sick, twisted logic is it a bad thing that a piece of land once devoted to killing people is now used for peaceful purposes a bad thing. That’s the kind of thinking that has gotten hundreds of thousands of people killed in Iraq for no damn good reason. Grow up man. The end of the cold war is a good thing. It sickens me to think of people waxing nostalgic over stuff that kills, maims and destroys lives.
I played there about every other day with Col. Kreidler. I worked for him. He’s the owner of Bar Harbor Motel, (2nd Ave N?)back when I went to Coastal Carolina, (UCLA…Upper Conway,Lower Aynor) in 1980 & ’81. Great little layout with 9 holes and 18 tees. The Col. would pay for the golf and we had a few cold ones to keep us loose. I haven’t been back since. It sounds like I would be pretty disappointed if I did.
Fort Jackson still runs a very inexpensive summer golf program for children, with clubs provided by donation, and instruction from the club pro.
When I typed, "To folks who grew up in the civilian world, particularly those of a
pacifist stripe, this change might be seen as a positive development," I was actually thinking of bud. Unfortunately, my attempt to acknowledge him and people of like mind evidently bought me no good will.
The difference between bud and me on this point is — perhaps I should say, ONE difference is — that I am at least able to look at my own views with a sense of irony. Note my link above, in the very paragraph that set him off, to the quotes from Maj. "King" Kong, as played by Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove. ("Well, boys, I reckon this is it. New-q-lure combat, toe-to-toe with the Rooskies.") I went home and watched that scene again last night. I own it on DVD.
Hey, I know its weird to wax nostalgic about concrete pads that existed to help warplanes survive a first strike by the Rooskies. But I actually do feel that way.
I don’t think bud ever smiles at himself over on his side of this divide.
Brad, the problem I have with your nostalgia is not so much the memories from your youth that are, of course, subject to a personal interpretation. What I have a problem with is this whole arrogant approach you take toward people who believe that war making is simply not something that merits constant glorification. War is a horrible, expensive and necessary evil that we have to occassionaly resort to. But to suggest that we “pacifists” are somehow misguided or naive and out of touch simple smacks of a sort of disgusting condescension that is not becoming of a journalist.
And that kind of arrogance is what has apparently blinded many folks to ignore the growing reality that we went into Iraq based on our president’s flat-out lying to us. He was going to go into Iraq regardless of what the intelligence community said about WMD. Yet he affirmed over and over and over again his certainty that Iraq was a grave threat to our security. That simply was not true and he knew it.
If you would stop all this war worship and step back and examine the facts you would quickly understand what a horrible mistake we made committing our military to what has amounted to a nation building experiment.
If the American people and congress had known the truth they would never have supported this endevour. $3trillion dollars and a million lives is a big price to pay for a few miliary bases in the middle east. Basically that’s about all we’ve gotten out of this.
A million lives?
Ptui.
Those “million lives” were the elderly and children killed by Saddam Hussein and the UN, under the Oil for Food program. Saddam stole the food money and starved his own people to death, while bribing over 200 UN officials and European politicians to sell his oil on the black market, mostly through Russian brokers at about $15.00 a barrel.
US intervention in Iraq has probably saved another 1,000,000 Iraqis from starvation, restored oil production, and earned an $80 BILLION oil revenue surplus this year, to help rebuild the country.
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