At Twentynine Palms, Calif., a desert tortoise in a training area can stop exercises - completely. On some bases, soldiers on bivouac dig latrines - but merely for practice. They're not allowed to use them. Instead, private contractors truck portable toilets to the camp sites. Nevada ranchers irritated by jet noise have waged a legal brawl to eliminate a Navy range in Fallon, Nev., one of the few remaining places in the nation where military pilots can practice high-speed maneuvers.
Ranchers say jet thunder spooks their livestock.
Closer to home, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake residents near the Oceana and Fentress air fields have stepped up their feud with the Navy over jet noise. They're suing the Navy and enlisting more disgruntled residents. Their case comes before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Wednesday. A more dramatic showdown occurred on Vieques Island, where squatters closed down a Puerto Rican bombing range for more than a year. And at a 5,000-acre bombing range 50 miles south of Seoul, South Korea, which has been used for the past 50 years, villagers have finally lost patience with U.S. forces.