They Still Speak English in India, You Know

John Chalker checks in with a qualifier to his earlier comments to me:

I certainly did not mean to convey that all “joint use” concepts would not work. To be clear and specific, I have publicly stated that joint use with all the existing Marine operations (helicopters and jet fighters) at Miramar cannot work well for many reasons. However, in my opinion, joint use could work with the Marine helicopters at Miramar if the jet fighters were relocated to another base such as Yuma. This is not the same thing as saying that joint use only works if the Marines drop what they’re doing at Miramar, because the 100 plus helicopters and support aircraft would remain at Miramar while 80 plus jet fighters would relocate to another base.

OK, so joint use works as long as the Marines get rid of only the jet fighters at Miramar. But this is interesting in and of itself. I’m no military expert but it would seem like being able to fly tactical jets at Miramar is one of its most valuable attributes as a military installation. If the Marines have to move those aircraft, then why not move everything?

– SCOTT LEWIS