all your base
This week the US Naval Air Station at Keflavík (the same facility where many of you have landed, as it is also shared with the international airport) took down the American and Icelandic flags for the last time in a joint Icelandic-American ceremony. The closing of this Cold War relic marks the end of decades of American military presence in Iceland. It also signifies the loss of hundreds of Icelandic jobs; many Keflavík locals worked there on the base. I got an email this week from Iceland Report reader Don on the topic of the base:
Hi Jared,
I have been a regular reader of IR for some time now.
I'm an airline pilot and live in Seattle now, but a long time ago I flew for Eastern and lived in the beautiful city of Swampscott, MA.
My connection with Iceland goes back to 1976, when I flew P-3s from the base, tracking Russian subs during the Cold War. I was also a flight instructor for the base flying club, which got me hooked on Iceland. Once you get away from the KEF area, and into surrounding areas, the beauty is breathtaking. I have been coming back ever since.
Right now, I am at the KEF airport, waiting for my flight to Minneapolis and then on to Seattle. I came for the closing of the base this past Saturday, as I had to say good-bye.
Last night, while in my room, I was watching Stöð 1, which I believe is similar to PBS, and they had an interesting documentary about the closing of the base and the security of Iceland. While it was in Icelandic, they did have interviews with some folks that were in English, so I tried to follow it as best as I could.
The base has always been a sore point with Icelanders.
In 1976, the base was not the base you know of... it was called "the agreed area"... and anyone could enter this area... the only guards were Icelandic customs officials stationed at exit points, to preclude selling food/merchandise/alcohol bought on the base on the black market.
I bring this up because Icelanders would regularly come to "the agreed area" to be sponsored into one of the clubs and drink, the cost being much, much less than in a club in Iceland. The downside was that they had to talk with us, and I got into some very interesting political conversations.
My question for you is how do Icelanders feel about closure of the base? There is a bit of an economic effect with the loss of jobs on the base, but the economy really seems to be booming from what I have seen, and perhaps they feel better off with it gone.
I enjoy reading IR, and I salute you on your move to a very beautiful land. People think I'm crazy for coming here so much (7 times in 2006), but once Iceland gets you, it really gets you... I am sure you know what I mean.
Yes, I do know what he means. And Icelandic readers, how about it? How do you feel about the base being gone?
Hi Jared,
I have been a regular reader of IR for some time now.
I'm an airline pilot and live in Seattle now, but a long time ago I flew for Eastern and lived in the beautiful city of Swampscott, MA.
My connection with Iceland goes back to 1976, when I flew P-3s from the base, tracking Russian subs during the Cold War. I was also a flight instructor for the base flying club, which got me hooked on Iceland. Once you get away from the KEF area, and into surrounding areas, the beauty is breathtaking. I have been coming back ever since.
Right now, I am at the KEF airport, waiting for my flight to Minneapolis and then on to Seattle. I came for the closing of the base this past Saturday, as I had to say good-bye.
Last night, while in my room, I was watching Stöð 1, which I believe is similar to PBS, and they had an interesting documentary about the closing of the base and the security of Iceland. While it was in Icelandic, they did have interviews with some folks that were in English, so I tried to follow it as best as I could.
The base has always been a sore point with Icelanders.
In 1976, the base was not the base you know of... it was called "the agreed area"... and anyone could enter this area... the only guards were Icelandic customs officials stationed at exit points, to preclude selling food/merchandise/alcohol bought on the base on the black market.
I bring this up because Icelanders would regularly come to "the agreed area" to be sponsored into one of the clubs and drink, the cost being much, much less than in a club in Iceland. The downside was that they had to talk with us, and I got into some very interesting political conversations.
My question for you is how do Icelanders feel about closure of the base? There is a bit of an economic effect with the loss of jobs on the base, but the economy really seems to be booming from what I have seen, and perhaps they feel better off with it gone.
I enjoy reading IR, and I salute you on your move to a very beautiful land. People think I'm crazy for coming here so much (7 times in 2006), but once Iceland gets you, it really gets you... I am sure you know what I mean.
Yes, I do know what he means. And Icelandic readers, how about it? How do you feel about the base being gone?
posted by JB at 4.10.06
5 Comments:
That's a good point, and the traffic through there is growing by leaps and bounds as I understand.
So now that the base is gone, can they switch the airport terminal over to using clean Icelandic water instead of the MIL-spec chlorinated stuff?
They're "secretly" closing a few bases over here as well, and though it signals a possible brighter future, it's as you said, Jared, jobs are lost. Though, for Norwegians, that doesn't usually last for long.
The wife and I will have to get over there sometime . . . I've always wanted to go "glacier-skating". :)
Of course I'm happy about it, being the tree-hugging hippy that I am. But it seems a bit stupid that the army left voluntarily, the Icelandic government should have been more pro-active and start preparing their evacuation a long time ago. Just hope the army left us with something else then a few cockroach-infested apartment buildings and a thousand tons of toxic soil.
When I was walking out with my friends and we heard the roar of fighter jets approaching (I think it was every other week that they did their little tour of Eyjafjörður) I would always yell "the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!", which of course was just as witty every time I dit it. Now that the army is gone, the next time we hear the roar of jets, it might mean that the Russians are actually coming. Which might be kind of interesting.
IR reader Mindy writes in:
Pétur, I like your analogy.
During my short 5 month stay as an American in Iceland I got into many discussions about the base. I think the reason the Icelandic government wasn't more proactive about getting it out of there was for the reasons you stated: security, defense, comfort. I doubt Iceland has many enemies, but still...
The thing that I hated most about the base was when the American boys would come into Reykjavík to party. They always thought I was Icelandic - which was fine because I look it - but in trying to talk to them they were always really rude and disrespectful. I hated that they were the American representation in Iceland.
But that's just my American opinion--and I'm sure there were plenty of nice guys out there, but that was my experience.
Jared, thanks for the bit of news - I had no idea it was closing down!
My main man Brad at the US Embassy in Reykjavík writes in:
Nice post, pretty thoughtful.
Thought you might be intrigued to hear on the job front: As of 15
Mar there were 500 Icelanders working at the base; as of 30 Sep, 330 of them had found new jobs (many at the airport, as one of your
commenters alluded to). Figures courtesy of the Reykjanesbær
employment counseling office.
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