Military Bases

SolarCity, one of the country's largest residential solar energy system providers, plans to double the amount of rooftop installations across the country by setting up sun-powered systems on 160,000 homes and other buildings on military bases. The five-year, $1-billion SolarStrong project targets rooftop solar installations at 124 military housing developments in 33 states. SolarCity has already lined up a conditional commitment for a $344-million loan guarantee from the federal government.

Reporting from Lake Tapps, Wash., and Norwood, Ohio For those who grew up with him, Robert Bales seemed to have a place reserved on easy street. Captain of the football team and president of the sophomore class at his Ohio high school, Bales after just three years of college had an oceanfront condo in Florida. He was also pulling in more than $100,000 a year as a financial advisor. His investment work ran into trouble, though, and when the Sept. 11 attacks came, Bales felt what friends said was an irresistible call.

Our congressmen need not be concerned about closing our unused military bases. Now is the opportune time to take advantage of President Reagan's war on drugs, etc. Convert the bases to civilian conservation camps where our overcrowded jails can be mitigated by sending the "gangs and drug dispensers" for military discipline, direction, basic education and vocational training. Franklin D. Roosevelt used this method successfully back in the '30s. Sacramento has a "voluntary" CCC that has been operating with outstanding results for several years.

With a growing fleet of combat drones in its arsenal, the Pentagon is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to open U.S. airspace to its robotic aircraft. As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the military says the drones that it has spent the last decade accruing need to return to the United States. When the nation first went to war after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the military had around 50 drones. Now it owns nearly 7,500. These flying robots need to be shipped home at some point, and the military then hopes to station them at various military bases and use them for many purposes.

United Nations and French military helicopters in Ivory Coast attacked two military bases in Abidjan, along with the presidential palace and residence, undercutting Laurent Gbagbo's desperate fight to retain power after an election the international community says he lost. The attacks came as forces loyal to Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, announced a big "final push" to drive him from office, with fighters gathering at the edge of Abidjan, the nation's sprawling commercial capital.

Gliding over San Diego Bay, Manny Goulart and other passengers aboard the ferry Cabrillo enjoyed the skyline view that helps draw millions of tourists a year. The water was smooth, the sun was just peeping over the mountains, and the lights were still aglow on the aircraft carrier-museum Midway. There was none of the congestion or frustration of a freeway commute. "It's like a little vacation on the way to work," said Goulart, 48, a mechanical engineer in the aircraft repair facility at North Island Naval Air Station on Coronado.

Of the 10 Orange County hazardous waste sites, presumably the 10 most critical, identified on the sketch map and tabulation on the front page of the Orange County section of your Nov. 16 issue, three--the El Toro Marine Base, the Marine Air Station at Tustin and the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station--are U.S. government military installations. You indicate that the state is responsible for cleaning them up. Why? Since the federal government is the cause of the problem in these three locations, why shouldn't it have the duty to clean them up?

So Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the military can save $49 billion in the next 20 years by closing upward of 180 military bases (May 14). How many billions have we already committed to Iraq again? And how many jobs would be lost and cities and towns devastated by these closures? The wheels on the bus go round and round. Mike McNiff Costa Mesa So, let me get this straight. We're closing 180 military bases. At the same time, Iraq is worse for our troops than it was during the "war."

Military officials Monday night stepped up security nationwide--issuing a heightened alert for the Central Command in Florida and lower-level alerts for San Diego County Navy bases. "This is a very serious step. It's what you expect prior to launching an attack or believing an attack is imminent," said one Navy official who requested anonymity. At Central Command, a Defense Condition 2 was issued. There are four conditions of alert, with Condition 4 being the least serious.

The Pentagon released a budget blueprint Thursday that cuts projected military spending by nearly half a trillion dollars, yet still calls for increasing the base defense budget in all but one of the next five years. The proposal meets both goals because spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is dropping sharply, allowing the base budget - the annual cost of paying troops and buying planes, ships and tanks - to increase modestly, even while complying with last year's bipartisan deal in Congress to reduce the deficit.

I used to have a rural fantasy. Then I started reading the Jack Reacher novels. True, plane rides are now less painful thanks to Lee Child's rough-and-tough hero, a former U.S. Army MP - but I'll never again be able to drive along the lonelier roads in America without wondering what hideous acts of utter depravity go on within the walls of the quaint wood-frame homes flashing by the window. Drug-running? Pedophilia? Torture? Murder? Wife-beating? Maybe all of them. But I wouldn't be scared with Jack Reacher by my side.

I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo. Before 2003, I thought of the U.S. primarily as the home of Bruce Willis, Hollywood and Las Vegas. But it was also a dream, a dream of freedom. Then, a bit of America came to my country.

Now that Halloween has passed, it's time to talk trees - Christmas trees. Not the little 6-footers sold in lots, but the rock star that will embark on a 20-day national tour and attract all eyes as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. The tree this year comes from California's Stanislaus National Forest , where, at the moment, it's being carefully watched by two federal law enforcement officers. "It's a matter of national security, so it's guarded 24/7," says Maria Benech, a national forest employee with the title U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Coordinator.

The gig: As vice president and general manager of Boeing Co.'s space and intelligence systems, Craig R. Cooning, 60, leads one of the world's largest satellite operations with major facilities in El Segundo and Seal Beach. A retired Air Force two-star general who oversaw military purchases of rockets and satellites, Cooning now oversees 6,400 employees, including workers at Boeing's 1 million-square-foot facility in El Segundo near Los Angeles International Airport. It is there that the company builds school bus-size satellites that provide the military with high-definition video, radio communications and data services.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday the U.S. will maintain a strong military interest in the young Iraqi democracy even after the last combat troops leave this year, and she warned Iran not to try and take advantage of the pullout. During a tour of the Sunday morning talk shows, Clinton said that no one, especially Iran, should underestimate America's commitment to preserve the hard-fought gains of the last eight years. "We have a lot of presence in that region," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that the U.S. will maintain a strong military interest in Iraq after its last combat troops leave this year, and she warned Iran not to try and take advantage of the pullout. During a tour of the Sunday morning talk shows, Clinton said that no country, especially Iran, should underestimate the U.S. commitment to Iraq, which American-led forces invaded more than eight years ago to topple autocratic leader Saddam Hussein. "We have a lot of presence in that region," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.

One of the most widespread groundwater contaminants in the nation is more dangerous to humans than earlier thought, a federal agency has determined, in a decision that could raise the cost of cleanups nationwide, including large areas of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The final risk assessment for trichloroethylene by the Environmental Protection Agency found that the widely used industrial solvent causes kidney and liver cancer, lymphoma and other health problems.