I was in Florida last week, and on my way back north, I swung through Orlando. I know the Naval Training Center closed during the Clinton era, but wanted to see what it looked like today.
Wow. There is nothing there that a sailor would recognize. I went to boot camp, Nuclear Field A School, and Nuclear Power School on that base, so I was there for almost a year and a half. The only things that have not changed are the roads that went around the perimeter of the base. Nothing else is the same. Here are a couple pics:
This is Lake Susannah. Roughly where I'm standing would have been a road. There would have been a cutout in the curb, with space to park maybe a dozen cars. I used to park here. Right behind me would have been barracks, and I would have "had" to look at this view every morning when I got up, while in Nuclear Power School. It was rough.
These "luxury" apartments (according to the signs) would have been where those barracks stood, and just to the west of them (I'm facing west) would have been the two buildings that were US Naval Nuclear Power School (NNPS) and the one building that was Nuclear Field A School (NFAS). To the left of the leftmost NNPS building would have been the galley. I remember there was a guy who checked IDs who would guess your home state by your SSN on your ID.
Here is a fountain that stands on RTC, which is now Baldwin Park. Behind where I'm standing would have been the Bluejacket, a ship mock-up. Looking across the fountain into the field, about half of the field would have been paved, and would be the North Grinder, where we'd practice marching, and of course doing push-ups. Distant to that would be the pool house, and to the left of that would have been the two RTC galleys. To the left, beyond the tree line, would have been barracks for divisions 1-5. I was in Division 2, compartment 2 Bravo. My barracks compartment had no view of this field. BTW, I'm facing SSE in taking this shot.
The thing that disgusted me the most is the waste. Every single building was demolished. All sidewalks, all roads, everything that could possibly be recognized. There were lots of buildings that were still very usable. The boot camp barracks buildings - at least the one I was in - was in very good condition. Of course it would be, with recruits always polishing everything. The tile on the floor was probably 40 years old, but looked shinier than the day it came out of the box. Surely ten of those buildings that would hold twelve companies of roughly 80 men and women each could have been put to
some good use. The barracks on the NTC side that I lived in, yeah, they would have been best to be demolished. The Nuclear Field A School (NFAS) building was pretty new when I was in it in 1986, and I believe the NNPS school buildings were fairly new - at least they looked in very good condition. And then there was a galley right behind the one building. Perfect for a school system in Florida where it's not so important that the cafeteria be in the same building as the classes. But they demolished them, and a little way down (near the other end of the base) they built a brand new middle school. The waste just disgusted me. So many resources that could have been put to good use, wasted.
It brought back memories, though, and I did some more research. Here's a site I found that compares the new to the old.
RTC Orlando
Here's a picture that I found online. At the bottom you see the NTC galley. Right below it would have been an auto center where you could rent a bay with a lift to work on your car. Right above and to the left of the galley is the south NNPS building (picture is facing north). Directly north of it is the other NNPS building, and to the left between the two was NFAS. To the right of the southern NNPS building you see 8 barracks arranged in a square. Those were for NNPS enlisted students. I lived in the second one from the north, oriented east-west. The group of barracks north of that, east of the northern NNPS building were NFAS students. I lived in the one that is closest to the NNPS building, when I was in NFAS. The green lake to the right is Lake Susanna, pictured in the first image. RTC is in the top left / northwest corner of the picture. You can see Division 10 as the southernmost barracks building, and you can barely make out Division 5 at the other end. You can see the north grinder and field pictured above in the picture of the fountain, and part of the south grinder and parade field where we held pass-in-review. Just above mid-left, you can see the Navy Exchange mall, where there was a Baskin Robbins. Since NNPS taught all classified info, we had to study in the building, of course, so I would often go to BR after dinner, get a pint of Cherries Jubilee, and eat it while studying.
Good times....
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