Damn, I promised myself I would stop reading and replying to this thread but I can't help myself.

Not that it has much to do with fishing, but base closures and defense cutbacks in general were begun in earnest back in '86, and I'm pretty sure the GOP were in the White House at that time. Who was secretary of Defense back then? So you can thank your grand old buddies for getting the ball rolling on that one.

Ok, now I'm off for a week of steelheading. Every day I get to wake up and go to the river to fish for a week straight. I may never return...