Friendlier still would be to explore an additional alternative not listed in this or any other military assessment, and that is a contingency for diplomatic solutions to conflicts. Additional overreaches like the Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Range and elsewhere would be untenable, and surely result in a more sustainable future not only for the Peninsula, but the planet.
It was environmental historian T.H. Watkins that wrote, "Love for the land for its own sake and for what it holds of beauty and joy and spiritual redemption that will make wilderness not a battlefield but a revelation." Clearly it was this sentiment, or more accurately this ethos that filled the Pacific Beach meeting room like coastal fog during the clash with the Navy visitors, but it was a local woman's challenge to the gathering at the end of that exchange that hit home with me and resonates still:
"We need to determine as a nation, or as a group of people living in this area, do we want a National park, or a military training ground."
To most, the choice continues to be clear.
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