Obama declares Fort Ord a national monument

[alp227]

Source: SF Chronicle

More than 14,000 acres of expansive coastal lands that served as training grounds for generations of soldiers were declared a national monument Friday.

Fort Ord, a former military base just north of Monterey, will be the country's newest national monument and the second that President Obama has created under the 1906 Antiquities Act.

The federal nod will help the public lands, which hold more than 80 criss-crossed miles of hiking and cycling trails, gain prominence as a travel destination and protect the lands as an environmental refuge.

"We're truly overjoyed," said Michael Houlemard, executive officer of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority. "Yesterday we were Fort Ord Public Lands. Today we're Fort Ord National Monument."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/20/BAVN1O6SL3.DTL

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I've been to Monterey County many times but never to Ft. Ord. Now i'll have to go!

[Little Star]

1. cool!

[cynatnite]

2. I was stationed there for 2 years...

Met my husband there and it's where I had our daughter. Lots of good memories. We hated seeing it close. Maybe those buildings and all will finally get some use out of them.

[CreekDog]

5. Fort Ord has gone to use --It's a university now

the surrounding lands will be park, i'm guessing.

a terrific outcome.

[bluesbassman]

3. My dad was 7th Infantry there in WWII.

He ended up fighting in the Aleutians and Kwajalein.

I lived in the area for about five years in the early '80s. I'm so glad they've done this. It's a beautiful area and needs to be available for all of us.

[denbot]

4. I've camped there as a young man in Veterans Park

I signed a petition urging President Obama the creation of the Ft Ord National Monument. Holy crap, it worked..

[Pirate Smile]

6. Awesome

[bluestateboomer]

7. I did my basic training there.

I went up to visit the derelict buildings in 1997. I'm glad it will be put to a more peaceful use now.

[rsmith6621]

8. My Dad Trained There And The Shipped Off......

...To Japan and worked under General McAurther in the 1st Cav... Iwent on that base one night to pick up a Western Union cash advance from my employer.

[Bette Noir]

9. Excellent!

[Adsos Letter]

10. I went through Basic there.

Winter of 1973. Cold and wet.

[EFerrari]

12. My ex was there the previous year.

Also cold and wet.

You must have been in the very last batch?

[Adsos Letter]

16. That should have read "Winter, 1972" (my memory hiccups, at times...)

So, I must have been there when your ex was there. it was a nasty winter. It actually snowed one day, which is pretty unusual for Monterey. Otherwise, cold, rain, mud, etc.

[EFerrari]

18. Those years are muddy for me, lol.

Yes. He had a stutter and was processed out. While he was waiting, he was the company clerk for that unit because he could type and write some.

I remember the snow that year. It snowed in Cupertino and all the students in the DeAnza cafeteria ran to the big windows to watch it as if it was aliens landing.

[burrowowl]

11. Great NEWS!

[jmowreader]

13. Fantastic news, but I'm still glad they closed it

Fort Ord had barracks where every troop had his or her own room and own latrine before any other base did, and they had a marina where soldiers could moor their sailboats. So, of course, the first fucking thing every recruiter except mine did was to pull out a picture of Fort Ord and tell you how wonderful base life was in the Army. (Mine told you how fucked-up the Army could be. He told you about the rock painting, the bad food, running five miles a day in driving rain, shit details and the possibility of getting killed in a training accident. And then he went to the latrine for ten minutes. If he came back and you were still there, then he told you the good stuff. And they made him US Army Recruiter of the Year two years in a row!)

[cynatnite]

15. Hmph...I didn't get a sailboat when I was there. n/t

[jmowreader]

19. They didn't GIVE you a sailboat...

You had to bring your own, but Fort Ord had a place to put it.

[Adsos Letter]

17. You're right about the "modern" concrete barracks. I was unfortunate enough to be in the old wooden

barracks down in "splinterville." No privacy there.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. I took my Basic Combat Training at Fort Ord...(1970)

It was a beautiful place, but the Army had a way of making it suck.

[CountAllVotes]

20. understand

Personally, I never liked Fort Ord. That place brings back some very horrible memories for me.

Now it shall be a National Monument.

Oh goody ... I guess ...