So Much For Environmentalist Intelligence

October 11, 2008 By CJ
Posted in Military News

My first duty station was at Fort Irwin, CA. I remember being completely upset because I had orders to go to San Antonio, TX as my first assignment out of training. While I was out-processing I was told that I had been diverted to Fort Irwin. Everyone felt bad for me. I was angry. After all, I’m from San Antonio.

So, in 1996, I headed to the desert post with my wife and newborn baby. Fort Irwin is located literally 40 miles from the nearest anything. Once you leave that gate, there is nothing but desert for 40 miles. The nearest town is Barstow. Until we were able to get on post housing, we lived in a run down hotel in the bad part of town with crack dealers, homeless shelters, and hunchback guy. Emily was afraid to leave the room while I was at work. But, I digress.

The road into Ft. Irwin was a long, two-lane thing that seemed to never end. At 0530 in the morning without sunlight, you never knew where you were on the road. All you could see was a stream of red taillights from other cars heading to work. The road was impossibly dangerous because the shoulders were gravel and all the little humps in the road hid oncoming traffic. Without fail, you’d get the jackass who wanted to drive under the speed limit and impatient people would pass even with oncoming traffic obviously closing in. The entire length of the road is dotted with little white crosses and the names of those who had died on that road.

For as long as I can remember, even back to 1996, there was talk of extending the road to four lanes. However, the environmentalist wackos were concerned with the desert tortoise than the lives of the people who had to travel that road day in and day out. In order to start the construction on the road, the military and San Bernardino County were required to complete an environmental assessment. This delayed construction for years. By the time it was complete, the cost of widening the road had jumped and more money had to be procured. When more money was procured, the environmentalists demanded and updated assessment. I left in 2001 and the road had not even been started because of all this crap.

I returned to Irwin in 2004 after returning from Iraq to head up the new Task Force IED. The road project had still not been completed. A decision had been made that the road would endanger the already endangered desert tortoise. The environmentalists demanded that turtle fences be erected to keep the animals from getting killed crossing the road until they could all be relocated. That’s right! Because of the environmentalist idiots, the Department of Defense had to spend millions of dollars to relocate turtles so that our troops could be safer driving to and from work. We’re talking about widening an existing road about 15 feet total here!! When I left in 2006, the road had STILL not been started.

At the same time, the Army was trying to expand its training grounds so that we could make our desert warfare training more realistic. Soldiers faced stiff penalties if they ran over a desert tortoise. All training STOPPED if one was hit because we were required to halt what we were doing and call range control to report the exact location of a tortoise we ran over. Failure to report a dead tortoise (even if we didn’t kill it) resulted in fines and possibly jail time. So, the Army began the tedious process of identifying and relocating the animals per the instructions and guidance of the environmentalist wackos! Do you know what happens when you cave to such stupidity?

The Army’s National Training Center at Ft. Irwin on Friday suspended its effort to move California desert tortoises off prospective combat training grounds and onto nearby public lands because the animals are being hit hard by coyotes.

The first phase of the $8.7-million translocation effort began in March, when about 670 tortoises were airlifted by helicopter out of the southern portion of the desert base northeast of Barstow to new homes in drought-stricken western Mojave Desert areas.

Since then, at least 90 translocated and resident tortoises in those areas have died, most killed and eaten by coyotes, according to federal biologists monitoring the project.

That’s right. The oh-so-smart California biologists and government officials made things worse!! Now, after the fact, environmentalists are playing the “I told you so” game. For more than 15 years they have bilked the government out of literally tens of millions of dollars for an animal that was dying at a faster rate as lunch to black ravens than they ever did to tanks and military maneuvers. But, because of the libtard state of California and their disdain for all things military, they did it anyway. Now, they’re suspending the relocation which will undoubtedly delay the expansion of much needed training grounds for our troops to ensure their safety in combat. But, on the plus side, at least the ravens will still be fed!

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