Army Ponders Amusement Venue, Hotel At Ft. Belvoir

[TexasLawyer]

Army Ponders Amusement Venue, Hotel At Ft. Belvoir

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Army officials say they are considering allowing a private developer to build a 125-acre entertainment, hotel and conference center complex next to a national Army museum at Fort Belvoir that could draw more than 1 million people a year to traffic-choked southern Fairfax County.

The possibility of adding what county officials call a military theme park arises as about 22,000 employees prepare to be transferred to Fort Belvoir in the next five years because of the federal base realignment and closure recommendations, designed to save $49 billion nationwide. The Army is considering the entertainment venue to help offset the cost of the $300 million museum, which a spokesman said is scheduled to open in 2013. No federal funds are being sought for the museum, but Fairfax has donated $240,000.

A Florida developer has submitted an unsolicited proposal for a military theme park that would include the "Chateau Belvoir" hotel and an entertainment district with bars like the "1st Division Lounge" and several "4D" rides.

"You can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner," according to the proposal by Universal City Property Management III of Orlando. The company has no connection to NBC-Universal, which owns Universal Studios, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701182_pf.html

[Drum]

1. oh brother!

:crazy:

[TexasLawyer]

2. Seems in keeping with the master plan--

Make the military look like a fun game.


"The Army spends about $1.2 billion per year on recruiting ...
In dollar terms, developing and operating the game represents
$4.5 million . . . or 0.375 percent of the total Army effort."
He said the Army is spending $3 million a year to develop
future versions of the game and $1.5 million annually
to support it.

Army targets youth with video game

Eric Gwinn
Chicago Tribune
November 7, 2003

Even as casualties climb in Iraq, an online Army video game that takes players through basic training and into virtual combat zones registers another 3,000 to 4,000 players a day, Army officials said.

And now with Version 2 of "America's Army" having gone online Thursday, the Army expects those numbers to soar, demonstrating that, in its year of existence, the game has gained a loyal following with a registration that now approaches 2 million.

<snip>

http://www.notinourname.net/resources_links/video-game-7nov03.htm

[daleo]

4. I recall this as being listed as a feature of fascism as well

I.e. - Normalizing and romanticizing military life.

[muryan]

6. Im fairly certain that

throughout american history, the military has been romanticized. This is nothing new, and certainly not a characteristic of facism. Remember our first president was a war general.

[IChing]

7. War and the military glorified for children in an amusement park?

I guess I missed the signs


http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_blackshirt.html

http://www.countryjoe.com/wwwboard/messages/1243.html

OK if you say so.

[saigon68]

16. Maybe they can have some Blow Up Dolls to RAPE also

And after they RAPE them they can blow the doll's brain out.

[daleo]

8. All societies romanticize the military to some extent

But normalizing and glorifying the military tends to be associated with fascist or at least militaristic states. Think of pre-WWI Germany or pre-WWII Germany. They each normalized and integrated the military into national life, although under somewhat different ideologies.

I am thinking not so much of the glorifying of the military, as I am of the normalizing. I frequently see ads on CNN for high-tech military equipment. What's the point? It isn't as if viewers are going to go out and buy a military satellite surveillance system. But it normalizes the military, integrating it with the everyday experience of watching TV.

Same with this high-tech military amusement park, in my opinion. These don't seem like healthy developments for a democracy.

[tabasco]

13. Recruiting is in crisis mode.

They are really throwing a lot of money at the problem.

Do your part in the romantic military!

www.goarmy.com

Ask for specialty 11B for extra romance!

[TexasLawyer]

3. Your tax dollars at work

"It seems fairly clear that the Pentagon brass has decided the only way they can succeed with the ($300 million) Army museum is to make a museum wrapped in an amusement park," Kauffman said.

[IChing]

5. I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what

they killed, there would be no more wars.
Abbie Hoffman



Now, do I get to shoot, promote violence and destruction and even kill things with our tax dollars?

Also, can I bring the kids?

[Penndems]

9. GREAT - just what we need in this area!

:eyes:

We live about ten miles south of Fort Belvoir. Traffic is a mess on Route One. When the offices from Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval move down to Belvoir - and if this amusement park/hotel project goes through - it'll be twenty times worse than it is now. This area won't even be fit to live in, if development keeps up at this rate.

Fairfax County is a dump. I'm a native of FC, and there's no way I'd go back there and live. The late Jack Herrity, in his position as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors (and a Republican), turned over the county to all of his developer buddies - lock, stock and barrel. The current county chair is a Democrat, and it looks as if he's just another Jack Herrity in a cheap suit, LOL.

[TexasLawyer]

10. thanks for the details

the article says in the first paragraph that the project "could draw more than 1 million people a year to traffic-choked southern Fairfax County."

Your description really brings home the problem. Yikes.

[aquart]

11. Bloomberg and friends tried to put a STADIUM in clogged Manhattan.

Did. Not. Work.

[soothsayer]

12. I thought I was the only one who cheered when Herrity died

[valerief]

14. Their only concern is TRAFFIC? This is surreal.

Well, they gotta make blood-thirsty soldiers somehow. Get 'em when they're young, as one famous German (Swiss?) said.

[iamjoy]

15. They Can Recruit Attendees

you know do really well on their "games" and you'll be pulled into a room where they'll give you their best sales pitch. Why just play at war when you can do it in real life?