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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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This makes sense, from both a manpower and long term stance.
First, Colorado is going to survive climate change much better than Alabama will. Not having to do PT at 2am because that's the only time it's cool enough is kinda nice.
Second, since Alabama keeps rejecting and making things illegal that the majority of Americans want (e.g. Abortion, porn), moving there doesn't make sense for the military. When you have to ship people to other states for medical care, it's better to just build in other states in the first place.
Not to mention the massive civilian/contractor force that supports it. That’s a bunch of highly educated people that probably don’t want to live in Alabama either.
You’ve never been to Huntsville. Alabama has a surprisingly large number or rocket scientists living there.
Yeah, but you're still in Alabama.
Luckily, I’m not. But I did find Huntsville to be surprising—both for the beautiful landscape and clear uptick in IQ points compared to the rest of the state. Great German food—bet you can’t guess why.
As the story goes, the ex-nazi scientists that the US brought in to work on rockets were first stationed in Houston, but they all hated the heat. They requested a transfer to Huntsville because the landscape was similar to the German countryside.
And that is how the US government allowed nazis to decide the primary location for NASA rocket research, which also happened to be in the same state as the headquarters for the KKK. Clearly, nothing could go wrong.
Fascinating.
Yes, and Huntsville is very pleasant itself because of this. But they all assure me that you have only to drive a half hour out of Huntsville to know for certain that you are in Alabama. (The thank-god-for-Mississippi Alabama, that Alabama).
This is going to matter to some aerospace engineers and particularly the ones with spouses and children.
I grew up in Alabama but live in Colorado now. If I were forced to live somewhere in Alabama, Huntsville would be at/near the top of my list. But it's still Alabama, and I'd still waaay rather live in Colorado. It obviously doesn't keep everyone away, and there's a lot of inertia there with all the existing space/rocket/defense industry in Huntsville. But is Space Command even going to be hiring heavily in the engineering fields that are concentrated in Huntsville? (That's a real question- I'd guess they're not hiring primarily engineers that they'd find in Huntsville, but I don't know.)
Historically fo sho.
I wonder how long that'll remain. If you consider, the vast majority of that development @ Huntsville is legacy support or done. New rockets are coming from private companies / conglomerates, sure, Huntsville built the saturn 5, but they aren't building SpaceX or Lockheed or Rocketjet Aerodyne's babies.
IMHO, Huntsville was awesome, but it's time as a giant NASA player is over. We can get rockets elsewhere.
They’ve been transitioning that brainpower into other types of government work up there. The FBI recently opened a large office, and there is still a lot of military development that is going on, even if the space program has wound down.
They still have a rocket on every corner and every school is named after an astronaut though, so it is clearly a deep part of the local culture. Even the baseball team (the trash pandas) has a logo of a raccoon riding a trash can rocket.
Aerojet moved their operations from Sacramento to Huntsville. Blue Origin is moving their manufacturing of their BE-4 engines for New Glenn and Vulcan from Kent to Huntsville. Saying that Huntsville is no longer a major aerospace hub for private companies is off the mark.
I don't think anybody wants to live in Alabama.
I’ve found that most of the Alabama residents I’ve met are somewhat afraid of other (especially non southern) states and they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Plus AFAIK the stargate is still in NORAD so it makes sense to keep them close
They actually have a janitor closet labeled "Stargate Command" inside Chyanne Mountain, lol.
“Janitor closet.” Sure.
The closet looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/vD53jtu.png
I just really noticed how mild and wet this summer has been in Colorado Springs. As expensive as it is to live here, we're not roasting to death like the Southeast.
Plus we keep getting all of the regional fast food in one location.
It used to be that summer afternoons on the Front Range of Colorado frequently featured thunderstorms, but then a long-term drought took hold, the summer storms became much rarer, and Colorado became frighteningly dry for approximately the first two decades of the 21st century. Yes this has been a wet year, and a welcome return to the old normal, but will that persist in the face of climate change or are we just seeing a brief respite before the "new normal" of warmer, drier weather returns? Plus many areas along the Front Range are depleting their aquifers at an unsustainable rate, drought or not.
According to the people on my local (Colorado) Nextdoor, our water company should drop their new drought fee because this year has been pretty wet 🙄
Well, in some ways. Colorado is already subject to serious drought and water shortage issues; dramatically increased number of/size of/damage from wildfires; temps in excess of 105°f just like, it seems, everywhere else (though CO Springs is higher and cooler than the worst-affected areas of the state, temperature-wise); etc.
Currently in CO Springs it is only 2 degrees (F) cooler than in Huntsville, AL. Humidity is only ~10 pts difference - otherwise yeah I'd say it's more uncomfortable in AL. Though this is only a snapshot.
I digress.
Point is climate change is affecting (present tense, not future) different areas differently.
You're absolutely right about the social aspect tho.
The Western Slope is at risk of a climate disaster but the Front Range should be okay.
Plus Colorado is closer to space, so the commute is shorter.
At the same time, couldn't army bases be used to provide medical services on federal land to people who don't have access to it because of state laws?
Asking as a Canadian, so please enlighten me people!
People who don't have any affiliation with the base typically aren't allowed on most bases, most of the time. The medical facilities on bases are for service members and their covered spouse/dependents. Even civilian employees generally can't receive care on base unless they are going to die if they don't receive it immediately.
I think service members and their families would be able to receive care that might be locally outlawed, but federally legal. Everyone else affiliated with the base would be SOL.