JBLM must listen before adding noise

Kudos to Stella Vera for her Feb. 13 letter about the the noise inflicted upon us by heavy artillery drills, and soon, unbelievably, rocket launches. Joint Base Lewis McChord has absolutely no regard for surrounding communities.

Their words are equivalent to thumbing their noses at the citizen. They want respect yet they continue to ignore protests and continue to wreak havoc in our backyards with their increasingly noisy drills instead of conducting them in Yakima. They ignore the fear and dread these drills produce.

They use budget constraints as an excuse. They declare that they want to keep their soldiers close to home. When people enlist in the armed services, they know from the outset that there will be times when they will have to be away from home. Are we re-inventing the services to be staffed with soft homebodies or are we training soldiers who do what they must in order to defend America?

The expense of training at the Yakima facility is a drop in the bucket compared to the widely reported waste at the Pentagon.

If the powers that be in the military continue to scoff at the citizens regarding the increasing assaults on the communities, they will certainly breed contempt for JBLM.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 8:47 AM with the headline "JBLM must listen before adding noise."