Ron Paul wants to build more bases in the U.S.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yes, this is part of it

a military base that is ONLY a hospital and barracks is not a military base, it is infrastructure. A military base includes an armory. an MP Station, a Fire Station, and a firing range at the very least. This is literally the size of large city block. Hell you could do that to fix a high school too, but it needs to be federalized due to the we cannot have Federal Troops working in CONUS. For that I prefer WPA. But you could also use them to build a SCHOOL that way... a block or two are hardly a base, even if we call it that way.

You need to change the law to allow federal troops to work in CONUS. For rebuilding bridges, and yes we need it. you need a CIVILIAN WPA program. This is just a way to keep these troops EMPLOYED right until the draw down of forces will not put them into the unemployment office for the next five years. The last to face the axe right now should be actual troops... they spend money.

Incidentally, what happens if you bring a combat brigade to the US, and you change their MOS, military occupational specialty, from rifleman, to Engineer and give them the CONSTRUCTION skills they can use in the civilian world once they are released from service. I am sure some gung ho troops will prefer to stay in the service in the combat arms for 20 years, but most will not be able to. Not with the drawdowns we expect, So retraining them before they leave the service is a damn good idea.

Paul's idea of a base of McNeil AF base, this is not McNeil, at all. And it will be in the plans that six months to a year after it comes on line (time to check it), it is transferred to the county as a county teaching hospital. Walla infrastructure. I can tell you MY CITY could use a new county hospital. Ours is just oh forty plus years old and cannot be seismically retrofitted to meet standards.

Of course we are talking out of whatever because we will not see a WPA or anything like this in our lifetime. And we will see a draw dawn of forces (who stop spending) well before the MIC cancels things like the Osprey, otherwise known as the widow maker. We stopped being that creative a while ago. And keeping a combat brigade that becomes an engineering unit in the rolls for two more years building infrastructure and getting skills that are actually useful in the civilian world is far cheaper than still funding the Osprey... that is why it will not happen.