Military Past and Present

I’ve been following the news reports of the search for the USS Grunion (SS-216), a sub that was sunk during World War II while patrolling off Kiska Island in Alaska. The blog and the photos are captivating.

The sub’s search brought me to read some of the history of Kiska, and its role in the Battle for the Aleutian Islands. That reminded me of nearby Adak, Alaska. My ship the USS Elliot (DD-967), sailed near Adak during the massive PACEX-89 exercises the fall of 1989. I remember those nights offshore filled with howling wind and dark mountains jutting up against a dazzling, star-filled sky. It seemed like such a mysterious place.

Adak used to be home to Naval Security Group Activity, Adak, with which my group occasionally collaborated. While I never set foot in Adak I often wondered what life was like for my CT shipmates there. The base itself was decomissioned in 1996, reverting to civilian ownership and essentially becoming a ghost town.

I found a set of photos here and here that show what the base looks like now. Aside from the peeling paint in places, it looks like it was operational only yesterday.

My military service seems like only yesterday in a lot of ways. Then some news story or photos like these will drive home how much the world has changed since those days. Though Russia is rattling sabres now, it is a far cry from the mighty Soviet Union whose ships I once faced warily on the Pacific. Bases like Adak that were no longer strategically useful were abandoned, meeting a fate only slightly better than my ship’s sinking two years ago.

Sometimes I don’t know whether to pine for the simpler days of the Cold War or curse the enormous resources that were wasted. Still, I think its a shame to let these places wither away (or to actively sink them, as the case may be). We need them as reminders of the challenges we faced in a world much different from today.