Impact of Military Bases on Local Communities

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Impact of Military Bases on Local Communities
A military base can be defined as a facility, arrangement, reservation or a system that shelter military equipment and personnel. The military bases are available in every country of the world in order to support and protect the military equipments and for the protection of personnel as well as country CITATION Luí09 \m Dav99 \l 1033 (Rodrigues and Glebov; Warren, Holman and Harvey). Likewise, in every country, this military base has significant impacts that could not be overlooked. Concerning this, this paper is composed particularly in the area of United States military bases and its impacts on local communities of United States in order to determine both negative and positive impacts. For this purpose, a thesis statement is developed for the study that is given below:
"Military bases play positive and negative roles on communities within the United States by increasing local revenue, increasing population, military conflicts of interest, and non-military domestic disturbances."
Based on the above thesis statement, the paper is composed by making detailed research and provides effective and real facts assess the outcomes of the study that could be either positive or negative. The study will analyze from different angles, the implications of US military forces on the members of local communities. At last, conclusion is included in this paper along the final comments that could be either in the favor or against of the key research topic or thesis statement.
The role of military in the development and growth of the country is significant since presence of military bases is one of the factors that influence a number of factors and areas near to it. Likewise, in the United States, there are number of military bases located in local communities, which are influencing on various aspects in terms of social, economic, and political areas. There are number of researches and studies conducted to determine the ways and areas that could influenced by the military bases. In the same way, in United States the significant impact of military bases on the local American communities can be observed since the history of America concerning to military bases is full of real facts and realities CITATION Dav99 \l 1033 \m Ann04 \m Dav99 \m Jan09(Warren, Holman and Harvey; Baker; Warren, Holman and Harvey; Radway, Gaines and Shank).
When it comes to analyze the impacts of the US, military bases on the local communities of the United States, there are number of facts identified. These facts are both in the favor and against of local communities of the United States, which determined that the US military bases have been influencing local communities of United States in both negative and positive CITATION Mic96 \l 1033 (Michael Dardia; Rand Corporation; National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)). These positive and negative impacts of US military on the local communities of United States are discussed below.
Military bases in the United States has great sensitivity towards the local communities surrounded them and influencing these communities in negative ways as well. These concerns associated with the military bases of United States are understandable in the light of the fact that many of these communities in base personnel represent a significant share of local employment. Even local communities with promising alternative uses for the local base seem wary of the important mediate effects of the closure, with its loss of civilian jobs and service members' local purchases CITATION Dav99 \l 1033 \m Mic96 (Warren, Holman and Harvey; Michael Dardia; Rand Corporation; National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)).
When military base is closed, the local communities of America can face economic issues, which are similar to when a major company is shutdown or change its location. The impacts on the local communities are direct because civilians are employed on the military base and the shutdown of base can cause them to lose their jobs. Similarly, the indirect impact of the military bases on the local communities of America is due to the sales of organizations in those communities, which can be lost due to the shutdown of the military bases. These changes can cause bigger issues such as unemployment, a decline in the level of available education, lower property and sales tax revenues, declined levels of municipal services, and decline in property values CITATION Ann04 \m Placeholder1 \m Jan09 \l 1033 (Baker; Rodrigues and Glebov, Military Bases: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Challenges; Radway, Gaines and Shank). Another example of economic impacts can be taken from the history of the Vietnam War, when the United States had faced significant loss in terms of national personnel since it was estimated that about 300,000 jobs in private sector were destroyed and recession was increased CITATION Bar03 \l 1033 \m USO92 \m USG02(Holman and Little; US Office of Technology Assessment; US General Accounting Office). This fact have led to a series of terrible predictions regarding the growing impacts of the losses that country faced and its future growth has faced much concerns. It was the time when the unemployment rate in the country was increased to 21.7 percent solely due to the closure of the US military bases to the local communities CITATION Mic96 \l 1033 (Michael Dardia; Rand Corporation; National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)). Based on the facts, it can be said that the military based of United States has significant impacts on the employment of the people lives in local communities. Contrary to this, a study by GAO reveals that many communities have managed to overcome the adverse effects of base closures due to several factors such as existence of strong local and national economy. Propagation of community redevelopment aims has helped the communities to regain confidence and make efforts to stabilize industrial growth.
The process of deployment of military bases requires the compliance with different environmental laws and standards specifically including National Environmental Policy Act. This act requires the military to identify and compare its plans to the appropriate alternatives while considering the respective environmental impacts. It can be said that the environmental requirements of military bases can cause confusion, delays, and higher costs. The installations of the military bases can cause local communities to face different issues for the people in case the fuel of military vehicles is leaked. Higher costs of the military bases may require incurring on the costs of education and training expenses of local communities CITATION Jan09 \m Placeholder1 \m Ann04 \l 1033 (Radway, Gaines and Shank; Rodrigues and Glebov, Military Bases: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Challenges; Baker).
The military spending can have negative impacts on savings and investments of local communities. It can be said that the increase in military expenses are funded by taxation, then these expenses are declined in the future savings propensities can increase. It is possible that the increase in new revenue from taxation in local communities of America due to the presence of military bases can be difficult. For this reason, the military expenses can be funded by the increase in money supply to cause the increase in inflation, which can result in decline in savings of local communities of America. A direct impact can result from the military expenditure being directly at the expense of education and health while requiring the increased private provision along with the reduction in savings CITATION Jan09 \m Placeholder1 \m Ann04 \l 1033 (Radway, Gaines and Shank; Rodrigues and Glebov, Military Bases: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Challenges; Baker).
The impact of military expense on the balance of payments can depend on the production of arms while receiving the military related aid. The imports of weapons can be a huge burden on the economy of the local communities of the America using scarce foreign exchange while making trade deficits to be avoided with difficulty. It can be offset by military related aid, exports of arms and import substitutions but in general military spending is likely to be a burden on the trade balance CITATION Jan09 \m Placeholder1 \m Ann04 \l 1033 (Radway, Gaines and Shank; Rodrigues and Glebov, Military Bases: Historical Perspectives, Contemporary Challenges; Baker).
The military spending with any form of government expenditure can have an impa...