THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300511
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
The Navy will reopen the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba to military dependents in December, ending a year's separation of families that turned the once-prized Caribbean paradise into a childless wasteland.
Military and civilian couples without children can return, beginning Oct. 1, according to the Atlantic Fleet, which announced the reopening Tuesday. Schools will reopen in January.
A year ago today, the first of 2,500 dependents were ordered out of the base because of an unprecedented influx of 45,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees.
The dependents returned to the United States in a series of shuttle flights that took them through Norfolk. They then were re-routed to temporary homes, called ``safe havens,'' across the country.
Many dependents still harbor bitterness at their eviction. Now, the 850 families who left will be allowed to return.
However, for most the reopening of the base to dependents is too late. Their spouses' tours at Gitmo have ended or are so close to ending that a return to Cuba would not make sense.
This is the day Capt. James F. ``Bookie'' Boland, the naval station's commanding officer for the past year, had been working toward.
Boland gave the news to base personnel Tuesday morning.
``There was a little jumping up and down, lots of smiling faces, applause and a few tears,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``A lot of people have been waiting for this a long time.''
Boland, whose wife and children spent just 12 days at Gitmo before being evacuated to Norfolk, saw his tour cut short as well. He will be relieved of command Sept. 15 and reassigned to Norfolk.
Like so many others, his family never got a chance to enjoy what Navy and Marine personnel have frequently called the best assignment in the world.
``We have real mixed emotions because our expectation had been a two-year tour down here in a real neat place with a great community,'' he said. ``We ended up doing something quite different.
``The people down here have been amazing for the way they stayed on an even keel. It really is remarkable. Individuals have had very tough days down here, me included. But collectively, people grab the person who is down and they pull them back up to the main deck along with everybody else.''
Officials are uncertain how many displaced dependents will return. About 60 of the original evacuated families can return, but perhaps only half of them will because of school issues, tour duration and other family issues. Additional new families are expected to follow their spouses, some of whom have recently been assigned to the base.
``The return of families to Guantanamo Bay, now that it is safe to do so, is the right thing to do for our people,'' said Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr., commander of the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk. ``It provides for the most cost-effective manning and is a key quality-of-life element for our sailors.''
The base population now includes about 3,700 military and civilian defense workers. Before the evacuation, the number was about 5,000.
A temporary force of about 9,000 additional military members has been housed at Gitmo to handle the remaining 12,000 refugees.
The refugees, mostly Cubans, are leaving at the rate of 500 a week, going to Homestead, near Miami, where they are being processed for entry into the United States.
In June, the base lost the Fleet Training Group, a main tenant that operated for 52 years at Gitmo and was responsible for training the crews of Atlantic Fleet ships. Gitmo also has lost the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
What remains for the base is its strategic purpose and ability to provide logistic support for the fleet. The core population of the base, not counting dependents, will be an estimated 1,300 personnel.
Long a thorn in Cuban President Fidel Castro's side, the base can be used forever by the United States, according to a treaty signed in 1934 that calls for a yearly $2,000 payment to Cuba.
Boland said Gitmo's new mission, that of a strategic and logistics base, will continue to make it vital.
``My guess is that Gitmo has not seen its last contingency, whether it's a natural disaster or a migration or whatever,'' he said. ``I am pretty confident that in the future you will be hearing about this place again.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Family members with questions on returning to Guantanamo Bay can
obtain more information at (800) 255-3808.
KEYWORDS: CUBA GUANTANAMO BAY MILITARY BASES BASE
CLOSINGS by CNB