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Ordie
09-17-2007, 02:53 AM
This post is dedicated to the 7th Infantry Division (Light) Vets.

Here's an update on Ft.Ord today.

Enjoy...


THE CONVERSION OF FORT ORD
A distant dream turns into reality
By LARRY PARSONS
Herald Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 09/16/2007 01:31:02 AM PDT
The red-and-white Target logo glows from the building beside Imjin Parkway. The sand dunes across Highway 1 from the new store and soon-to-open shopping center are almost black as daylight fades.
The bull's-eye logo of the big-box chain, preparing for an October opening of its new Marina store, is a fitting symbol of the big changes taking place on sweeping chunks of the former Army base, after a decade of planning, politicking and legal wrangling.
Other targets were here, years ago. They stood against the dunes between the highway and beach, on rifle ranges where thousands of soldiers who trained at Fort Ord until the early 1990s tested their marksmanship.
Those troops are long gone. And new forces using bulldozers, cranes and ranks of construction workers are planting flags of residential and commercial development at Fort Ord. Their overarching target — economic redevelopment of the sprawling military base.
"There is absolutely more going on than a lot of folks are aware of, based on where we were two years ago," said Michael Houlemard, executive director of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, the agency shepherding the transformation of the former Army base. Hundreds of old Army buildings have been demolished. Miles of utility lines have been laid underground. Tree-lined streets that will be the arteries of new subdivisions cut ink-black lines across south Marina's sandy soil. Farther east, in the rolling hills of the East Garrison area, acres of the red ground have been shaped by bulldozers, graders and ditch diggers.


Private development|

The most visible evidence of the explosion of private development at Fort Ord stands at Highway 1 and Imjin Parkway, where Target, Kohl's, REI, Best Buy, Old Navy and other stores will anchor the first Fort Ord shopping center. Part of The Dunes at Monterey Bay, the center is due to open in October.
In the works on Fort Ord land, there are three major projects in Marina, another in East Garrison, two projects in Seaside and another in Del Rey Oaks. They call for thousands of homes, apartments, townhouses, stores, offices, shops, hotels, a new golf course and other commercial outlets. While this activity represents the biggest wave of redevelopment at Fort Ord, it's hardly the first big undertaking to put the former Army base to new and retooled uses. There's CSU-Monterey Bay and the University of California's science and technology center, both well-established educational centers.
More :http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_6909811?nclick_check=1

gaijinsamurai
09-17-2007, 10:21 AM
Thanks, Ordie. My dad was stationed at Ft. Ord, in the 1960's.

By the way, the 7th ID was reformed in the late 1990's as an umbrella organization out of Ft. Carson, Colorado. It is the parent division for a few National Guard light infantry brigades, including the 41st Brigade, out of Oregon. When my National Guard unit was deployed to Kuwait, we wore the 7th ID divisional patch on our kevlars.

haze99
09-18-2007, 04:11 PM
I thought I saw a photo with a soldier wearing the 7th ID patch on his kevlar! (Now I know what I saw was correct!) The 7th ID is now apart of 1st Army West, which oversees Army Reserve and Army National Guard readiness and training.

AC434
09-18-2007, 08:00 PM
Funny about that base; I was born there, my dad retired there, I don't know how many trips to the base hospital for all the aches, pains, broken bones, and whatever I had growing up around there. Countless trips to the commisary for milk and bread. My mom worked as a seemtress sewing patches for the soldiers and later retired working in the commisary. My Senior Prom was even at Stillwell Hall. I may be a Marine through and through, but I started out as a Army Brat - I will miss that base.

clean
09-18-2007, 08:24 PM
Spent the seventies going to various races at Laguna Seca. You had to go through a checkpoint at the time to get to the track. Me and my friends would scour the area for spent shell casings. There were thousands. Cried a bit when the Army pulled out. Much the same feeling when I watched them leave the Presidio in SF and turn Crissy Field into a multi-use area.
Best memories of my childhood. Fort Ord. RIP.

Those barracks were built around 1940, meant to last five or so years. They're still there.

clean
09-18-2007, 08:26 PM
I thought I saw a photo with a soldier wearing the 7th ID patch on his kevlar! (Now I know what I saw was correct!) The 7th ID is now apart of 1st Army West, which oversees Army Reserve and Army National Guard readiness and training.

The 7th ID (light) occupied the base first in 1940, then retook it in 1974. They were the last ones there as I recall.

The 7th IDL was de activated in 94. It's last deployment was the LA Riots in 92.

oregongrunt
09-18-2007, 11:12 PM
http://f9g.yahoofs.com/groups/g_8948103/e610/__sr_/c58f.jpg?grYBM8GBFD4.jCJYI thought I saw a photo with a soldier wearing the 7th ID patch on his kevlar! (Now I know what I saw was correct!) The 7th ID is now apart of 1st Army West, which oversees Army Reserve and Army National Guard readiness and training.
Here's one of my personal pics from Baghdad in 2003. See the 7th ID patches? I rarely share any personal pics so enjoy.

gaijinsamurai
09-18-2007, 11:15 PM
This former 2/162 soldier likes those sunset patches on the shoulders!

HOLLiS
09-18-2007, 11:19 PM
This former 2/162 soldier likes those sunset patches on the shoulders!


Egads, you where a Doggie.................?????????

el borracho
09-18-2007, 11:21 PM
They still have base housing there for DLI students. It was privatized in early 2004, around the time I was leaving. The rest of the base was quite dilapidated. It's too bad, cause the views there are awesome, Highway 1 cuts through the middle and you have the beach on one side and the base on the other. Of course the base didn't have much except for a small PX and a huge area cordoned off full of UXOs.

gaijinsamurai
09-18-2007, 11:28 PM
Yeah. In gotta admit, I served five years in the Oregon National Guard. Somewhat difficult adjustment from the Marine Corps.

gaijinsamurai
09-18-2007, 11:28 PM
.....but as they say, Once a Marine Always a Marine!

Buckeye67
09-19-2007, 12:30 AM
They still have base housing there for DLI students.

That's neat. I remember when I was at DLI we rarely ventured over to Ft. Ord, but I always thought it was a nice post.

One of my drill sergeants in basic was a 7th ID guy. He found out I was going to DLI and said something to the effect of "Buckeye67, you're going to the language school?... I used to have respect for you." p-)

Ordie
09-19-2007, 02:00 AM
They still have base housing there for DLI students. It was privatized in early 2004, around the time I was leaving. The rest of the base was quite dilapidated. It's too bad, cause the views there are awesome, Highway 1 cuts through the middle and you have the beach on one side and the base on the other. Of course the base didn't have much except for a small PX and a huge area cordoned off full of UXOs.

A lot has changed.

The base area next to Hwy.1 is a shopping center with Target as its major anchor.

Much of the base housing next to the highway 1 has been demolished and replaced with upscale two story homes.

The target range has been returned to nature and is part of the state beach.

Most of the core dormatories and offices is now California State University Monterey Bay with emphasis on marine sciences.

Future plans:

University village
Business park
Golf Resort and condos
Veteran's cemetary
Horse park and equestrian center at Parker Flats
Public safety training center
Old barracks are to be converted into non-profit offices and artist colonies
More housing
University of California reasearch labsStill more room to spare.

The base is fully accessible and people are free to move about.

RECON DOC
09-19-2007, 02:04 AM
They still call it Planet Ord?

mudbunny
09-20-2007, 10:37 AM
It sounds like quite a few bases in the U.S have privatized their on-base housing. Now people are paying rent, despite living on-base.

loganinkosovo
09-20-2007, 10:50 PM
Dad went through Basic and Infantry AIT there in 1950 after being drafted for Korea. They spent weeks on the ranges living in foxholes and qualifying on everything in the inventory. It poured the whole time and everyone had the Flu and walking pneumonia.

He was so sick that one night the conscientious objector medic he was sharing a foxhole with blew his brains out next to Dad. The report woke him up. He saw what the kid had done to himself and just rolled over, pulled the poncho back over his head and went back to sleep.

He was once given the task of peeling potatoes on KP with a peeling machine (they still had them when I went through basic, a small cement mixer looking thing with a rubbery sand paper type interior). He loaded it full with huge russet potatoes, locked the top down and started it up. He was so sick that he sat down in a chair and passed out. He woke up to the cook cussing him out. That night they had tater tots for dinner. :)

They started with a 20 mile hike and worked up to a 120 mile 3 day ruck march. At the end of each hike they had to climb up the high dive at the post pool in full kit, Helmet, M-1,full Ruck, ammo, the works, jump off, swim to the other side and double time back to the barracks. Dad was only 5'8" and about 120 lbs soaking wet. The first time they did it he almost drown. So every other time he would hyperventilate on the way up, jump off, sink to the bottom, walk to the shallow end and then swim the rest of the way.

His entire Graduating Class as St. Mary's College was drafted. Since they were recalling WWII officers they didn't need any more 2nd LTs so they all went in as infantry privates. When they made it back from Korea they could hold a reunion in a phone booth. Dad went from Private to First Sergeant in under 3 years.