<p>Just an interesting thing to bring up. I have read in the news somewhere that San Francisco decides to ban all JROTC programs. The JROTC program has been in San Francisco for more than 90 years. The city decided to ban it b/c it exposes children to military and military recruiters, it recruits children to the military, and most of all it spreads homophobeia.</p>
<p>This also gives us some interesting look into where our nation is currently heading.</p>
<p>Wrong forum, bro. Take it to the cafe.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I'm going to walk away as fast as I can before I get banned for saying what I'm thinking. :mad:</p>
<p>The San Francisco Bay Area used to be the homeport to numerous naval activities. During the early 80's when John Lehman was Secretary of the Navy, then Mayor Diane Franken Feinstein submitted a proposal to the Navy to host a BB SAG (Battleship Surface Action Group) in San Francisco as part of the Strategic Homeporting initiative. Based on that proposal, the USS Missouri BB SAG was assigned to San Francisco. The Navy proceeded to spend an extraordinary amount of MILCON funds building the necessary infrastructure at Naval Station Treasure Isalnd. The Navy also built a new SIMA (Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity) at Hunters Point.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the anti-military and anti-nuke pukes gave the Navy hell. The Navy ended up moving the USS Missouri to NAVSTA Long Beach. This bad experience gave the Navy the incentive to move out of the San Francisco Bay Area lock, stock, and barrel. As part of the second round of BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) the Navy essentially shut down all operation in SF. The list of casualties:</p>
<p> Naval Station, Treasure Island
Naval Air Station, Alameda
Naval Air Rework Facility, Alameda
Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point
Naval Shipyard, Mare Island
Naval Air Station, Moffett Field
Naval Supply Center, Oakland (Supplied all logistics support to the Pacific Fleet)</p>
<p>I belive that there is still a Communications Station and an Ammunition Depot in the Bay Area. There is also a a mothballed fleet in Sasoon Bay.</p>
<p>There is, I believe, only one warship mothballed at Suisun Bay. Most of the remaining ships there are WWII Liberty ships. For a time the Glomar Explorer was also stored there. The Explorer was the only ship to have recovered Soviet nuclear arms when it recovered two warheads from a Soviet submarine that sank in three miles of water in the Pacific.</p>
<p>And yeah; post it on the Parents Cafe. I'd like to throw in a word or two on the subject, but in the appropriate place.</p>
<p>The combatant that WP is referring to is the USS Iowa (BB-61). Battleship Iowa continues to be moored at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benecia, California. She has, however, been made available for Donation as a Museum/Memorial. San Francisco was given first dibs on the Iowa; however, the anti-military pukes turned the offer down. A summary of the wording in the Federal Register (Vol 71, Number 60, pages 15707-15710) follows:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Summary: The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of the availability for donation as a museum/memorial the battleship ex-IOWA (BB-61), located at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benecia, CA. The availability of this battleship for donation is in compliance with Public Law 109-163, the FY 06 National Defense Authorization Act, and under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 7306. The Secretary of the Navy requires as a condition of transfer, that the donee locate ex-IOWA within the State of California.</p>
<p>The transfer of ships for donation under 10 U.S.C. 7306 shall be made at no cost to the United States Government. The donee will be required to maintain the ship as a static display in a condition that is satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy. Prospective donees must submit a letter of intent to the Navy Inactive Ship Program Office within 45 days of this Federal Register notice. Upon receipt of the letter of intent, the Navy will contact the prospective donees to ensure a full understanding of the application requirements.</p>
<p>Qualified organizations in the state of California wishing to apply for ex-Iowa must submit a complete application to the Navy within six months of this notice, comprised of a business/financial plan, a technical plan (includes towing plan, mooring plan, maintenance plan, and environmental plan), a curatorial/museum plan, and a community support plan (includes information concerning support from the community and benefit to the Navy).</p>
<p>Evaluation of the applications will be performed by the Navy to ensure the applications are compliant with the minimum acceptable application criteria and requirements. In the event of multiple compliant applications for the same battleship, the Navy will perform a comparative evaluation of the applications to determine the best-qualified applicant.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm saddened to the extreme that the well established JROTC program was ousted out of those schools. A great many kids will miss out on the benefits it provided. Sad, sad, sad.....</p>
<p>Published in today's New York Sun:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nysun.com/article/43532%5B/url%5D">http://www.nysun.com/article/43532</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
With the resignation of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, a possible new direction for the war in Iraq, and John Kerry's recent "botched joke" about our enlisted personnel, I've been reminded that skepticism toward the military is not uncommon in our country. New York City is no exception to that sentiment as I've noticed lately while thinking about the military a bit more than usual....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>did anyone watch the interview on O'reilly on this issue? the board guy so dodged O'reilly's questions</p>
<p>It was stated from one of the senior school board member "that the military's pro-war and anti-gay policies have no place in San Francisco district". One anti-JROTC protestor stated that "many people were threatened to be beat up by JROTC students". I feel so bad for the kids that will loss this great program, which has transformed many kids to the right path.
Though JROTC is banned from San Francisco, there are currently 300 schools waiting to establish a JROTC prgram. The funds from San Francisco will be diverted to the 300 schools across our nation.
I personally don't live in that city or am a JROTC member, but I'm in a similar program called the Sea Cadets. The sea cadets have taught me alot and let me see and do things that I never dreamed of. I personally think the city is going to lose a great opportunity to transform young people to successful citizens, the soul purpose of the JROTC program</p>
<p>Wow...
I'd love to tear that possition to shreads, but here is not the place.</p>
<p>REPOST THIS IN THE CAFE! I would like to see the reaction there.</p>
<p>Posted on military.com:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Wednesday as she led about 50 protesters to a White House gate Wednesday to deliver anti-war petitions she said were signed by 80,000 Americans.</p>
<p>The Berkeley, Calif., woman, whose son was killed in Iraq more than two years ago, was arrested along with three other women on the sidewalk outside the White House gate, said Lt. Scott Fear, a U.S. Park Police spokesman. They were charged with interfering with a government function after they blocked the gate and ignored orders to move, he said....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO School board votes to dump JROTC program</p>
<p>This article was published in the San Francisco Chronicle:</p>
<p>
[quote]
After 90 years in San Francisco high schools, the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps must go, the San Francisco school board decided Tuesday night. </p>
<p>The Board of Education voted 4-2 to eliminate the popular program, phasing it out over two years....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Currently, there is an interesting discussion thread on the USMMA about the Jrotc in San Frasncisco started by someone else.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=262969%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=262969</a></p>
<p>The debate over JROTC at secondary schools in San Francisco is primarily a BUDGET ISSUE, with a dash of politics thrown in to cover up the fact that SFUSD has to make miracles happen for over 60,000 students on a shoestring budget! </p>
<p>The school district and the military share the $1.6 million annual cost of the program, with the military paying $586,000, or half the salaries of 15 instructors--all of whom are retired military personnel. The district pays the other half of salaries and $394,000 in benefits. A budget analysis found that the district could hire nine teachers with the money the district now spends on JROTC -- enough to cover the gym and elective courses for the 1,600 students should the program be eliminated. </p>
<p>Earlier, Mayor Gavin Newsom weighed in on the debate, chastising the board for the effort to eliminate JROTC. "The move sends the wrong message," he said. "It's important for the city not to be identified with disrespecting the sacrifice of men and women in uniform." San Francisco Chronicle</p>
<p>The mayor wants the program, the parents and students want JROTC, the teachers want JROTC, but the school district CANT AFFORD JROTC!</p>
<p>In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that blaming the peaceniks for the demise of JROTC in San Francisco is a convenient smokescreen for our Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (currently AWOL from the Austrian Army by the way), who slashed the education budget in California by billions, but at the same time expects the school districts throughout the state to meet the federal mandates of No Child Left Behind and get our students (of whom 30 percent are English Language Learners whose parents arent even literate in Spanish) up to speed. Wake up people. One out of two children born in California in 2006 is Hispanic. Out of a population of 33 million statewide, thats a lot of English Language Learners who end up costing school districts much more to educate than native speakers. SFUSD and the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, want to keep the JROTC program, but they just cant afford it if it doesnt raise test scores. </p>
<p>If the residents of the San Francisco are so anti-military, why do the local universities, including Stanford, California Maritime Academy (CMA), UC Berkeley, and UC Davis have one of the oldest (founded in 1926 by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz) and most vibrant NROTC units in the nation?</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but no.</p>
<p>"So, we could use the same money we use on 15 teachers to hire 9...Brilliant!"</p>
<p>I'm not blaming all of San Francisco, just the four board members who killed it.</p>
<p>"Now we asked Nancy Pelosi what she thought of the ROTC ban. She's hiding under her desk. And San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he was glad the school board waited until after the national election because, "cheap-shot artists like O'Reilly and FOX would have exploited the vote."</p>
<p>Not exploiting, just reporting, Mr. Mayor. And you're welcome here any time to explain the situation. But of course, Newsom's not going to appear because San Francisco values don't encourage debate. The whole idea is to sneak things through, go around the folks."
Quoted from <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,229883,00.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,229883,00.html</a>
Mr. Newsom, obviously did not support that program</p>
<p><---- Rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.</p>
<p>Forget it, guys. San Francisco has long been recognized and verified as a bona-fide Reality-Free Zone. Arguing here will not convince the usual suspects to take off the tinfoil, nor will it restore this noble program to the schools of that bastion of "free" thinking.</p>
<p>Just grab your bongs, take a hit, and rock on, dudes! :D</p>
<p>The number is 15 part-time instructors compared to nine full-time credentialed teachers. Nancy Pelosi is more focused on Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment, and the chain of command in a school district is school board members, state education secretary, governor. The mayor holds no voting rights on the school board in San Francisco. What's the governor's point of view on this issue? Did anyone ask him? If Schwartzeneggar thought JROTC was valuable, he would drive down there in one of his gas-guzzling Hummers and terminate this discussion.</p>