Most, if not all of them, will likely be opponents. Virtually every county board of supervisors, both in North Carolina and in Virginia so far this year has gone on record opposing the training field being built in their jurisdiction.

By the middle of next month, the secretary of the Navy is expected to announce a list of five or six sites for further environmental impact study. And yet, the Navy has repeatedly said it wants to be a good neighbor, and it doesn't want to be where it is not wanted.

So where does all this leave things? The Navy obviously needs somewhere for its
Oceana-based F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet air crews to conduct field carrier landing practice manuevers if they are to do it for real, safely, on aircraft carriers out at sea.

I raised a question on the air several weeks ago about what would happen if no municipality stepped forward. We interviewed former Oceana commanding officer Skip Zobel, now retired, who suggested the Navy could simply use Fentress Field in Chesapeake. The day after that story aired, Fleet Forces Command Rear Admiral Dave Anderson told me that Fentress is already over-used and would not be suitable. Especially with the E-2 C Hawkeyes and C-2 Greyhounds that also need the touch and go practices which cannot be moved to their home base, Chambers Field at Naval Station Norfolk.

I remember the BRAC hearings in 2005, and then-governor Mark Warner pledging, under oath, that if everything else failed, Virginia would give the Navy landing rights at Fort Pickett in Blackstone. I've been wondering why nobody seems to be considering that. I know it's 95 miles away as the crow flies, and the Navy wants the O.L.F. to be considerably closer. That that would cost taxpayers x-number of millions of dollars in extra fuel expenses per year. That there's x-number of tons of old ordnace that would need to be cleaned up. And I know the other side of Petersburg would be a long way for landing signals officers to go. And I know there's 14,000 residents in nearby Blackstone, but that is far fewer than the 200,000-plus in Virginia Beach. And I know that Naval aviation may not be especially compatible with Army National Guard training which currently takes place at Fort Pickett. Still, it seems to me, the Navy should consider taking Virginia up on its Fort Pickett offer--given the reaction so far in every other named community. Perhaps Ft. Pickett will turn up on the Navy Secretary's list on November 15th. I guess we'll see.