I do know Pops went through Basic and one of his MOS schools there and I grew up hearing stories of running through the sand, doing PT in the sand, the firing ranges in the sand, eating in the sand, sand everywhere.
My father-in-law Al did his basic at Ord and then was stationed there several times throughout his career. Him and mother-in-law Sue have just recently moved back out here from Tennessee and invited us to go to Ft Ord and Monterey with them yesterday.
I posted pictures from 17 Mile Drive yesterday and today I'm going to post pictures of what's left of Ft Ord. A lot of it has been torn down and replaced with a college campus, but the remains are downright depressing. I'm not familiar with the installation so I can't tell you where any of this is located. Sorry.
Here goes:
Al in front of the barracks that he took Basic Training in.
Al and Sue in front of the opposite barracks.
More views of the barracks, inside and out. There was no electricity so I was just pointing the camera and shooting. Al said that the barracks used to be open bays and must've converted to rooms in later years.
Good ol' military artwork on the walls just inside the doorway.
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Fucking shameful, isn't it? Streets and buildings that were immaculate with manicured lawns and trimmed trees reduced to this.
The tunnel under the freeway from the barracks and training areas to the firing ranges on the beach. Picture hundreds of troops an hour double-timing through here every day, day after day.
So. They treated the installation like they did the soldiers - Thank you for your service, now go away.
I can remember riding to the Laguna Seca MC races when the road went through that side of Fort Ord and recruits were humping it up the road next to us.
ReplyDeleteA few years later I drove up with my son and explored the entire compound. It was as if you could feel the ghosts.
I gotta dig out the pics for ya.
Its almost as depressing as looking at where I did basic at Fort Knox, where all of the old barracks are a paintball training site for MOUT warfare, and also what a state of disrepair Ft. Dix's old BCT training site has become.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see so much history be neglected. Why couldn't they have turned part of it into housing or a museum? I wish you'd gotten closer shots of the chapel. I see the steeple there.
ReplyDeleteHubby's ship, the USS Midway, was turned into a museum. He wants to go back to visit, and see if he can hook up with any of the resident ghosts. Makes you wonder about a place that has seen so many people pass through, if there's still someone there. Would be interesting at night.
Craig - those buildings that have cars parked in front of them are being used as airsoft areas.
ReplyDeleteIs that Bldg 4596 you are posing in front of?
DeleteI have no idea. By the way, that's my father-in-law, not me. He was stationed there in the early 1960s.
DeleteUpon verification, it is Bldg 4596, off of A Street. I was assigned to HHC 3-17 Infantry. That's 4596.
DeleteThe two story wood frame barracks building are known as 700/800 series mobilization type builds. They were originally intended to last 15-20 years and built just prior or during WWII. Its sad due to the see these pieces of history in this state of neglect. Ft. polk has several left but every year there are less and less. Its ashame to think of the great men that have stayed in these only to see these pieces of history rot away.
ReplyDeleteGary
Did BCT (as it was called back then) at Ft. Ord (B-2/3 Pride of the Infantry - aka known as the 7th Street Gang). I think that the chapel in the photos was there then. The sand running was BAD but running over the ice plants was even worse! We were in single story wooden barracks much like the 2 story ones in the photos. If it wasn't in kalyfornia I might take a trip back.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah - almost forgot - we tromped past Laguna Seca several times.............
Thank goodness they are rotting away as opposed to having been used for housing projects for more Obama supporters. Of course, i could think of lots of better things they could have done with them than jsut let them rot, I am just happy they are not housing welfare slugs.
ReplyDeleteWe had a bunch of those old style barracks at Fort Chaffee up until a fire a couple of years ago. It saved us a lot of money when they burned down, the remediation costs were astronomical. Lead paint and asbestos issues. Some of the buildings are being preserved by the FC redevelopment group, their big draw is the barber shop, some southern boy named Elvis got his induction haircut there. Fort Chaffee is outside Fort Smith, Arkansas.
ReplyDeleteI live near Mather AFB. I remember the active guard shack near Sac Raceway on Excelsior. We used to watch touch and goes from the bleachers at the drags. Now it's all cookie cutter ghettos.
ReplyDeleteI go to Fort MacArthur in San Pedro quite a bit. It's where we have our Ham Radio "Field Day", and it was one of the original Coast Artillery installations. Parts of it are covered in graffiti and starting to fall apart, but other parts are kept very nice.
ReplyDeletespent a couple of months there doing mods on some Black Hawks and Cobras. It was a beautiful base. God damn shame.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting pics. Boy did those bring back memories. I did basic out of those buildings and ran the tunnel. Also did NCOB out of the wooden billets. Back in the day when I was there the big cement buildings held 4 companies as I remember and there were bays for the troops. The Platoon leaders had their own rooms. It was during Vietnamization . I lucked out and was sent to Germany after AIT at Fort Knox. Thanks again. AE
ReplyDeleteThose first pics look so familiar. I was assigned to HHC, 2nd Bn, 32nd INF with the 7th Division. Our barracks were identical. The company street, the mess hall on the end. The motor pool was across the street. Even the two trees are exactly as I remember them. Maybe just similar buildings, but sure looks familiar.
ReplyDeleteMight be the same barracks, Anon. There was a huge concrete pad across the street that Al said was the motor pool.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Stillwell Hall is still there? NCO club rignt on top of the beach... Loved being stationed there... Looks like shit now.. Was just cadre there. I did basic at Ft lost in the Woods..
ReplyDeleteTemplar in Georgia...
Want your heart to break? Check out "Historic Fort Wayne" in Detroit. 150-200 year old buildings, Beautiful til you look close, rotting away as the Army corps of Engineers uses the site as a base. Thousands of men mustered here from the Civil War on, and it is falling apart. depressing.
ReplyDeletePretty much the same story up at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. It is all rot and decay from the inside out. That should tell you something, if nothing else does.
ReplyDeleteWas here in 1959 for basic ~ Loved Ft. Ord ~ Beautiful place ~ Had a class A pass last 4 months I was here and did a lot of Monterrey and Carmel and Big Sur! Great places for whatever you want!
ReplyDelete