As a result, Kwajalein has become the splash-down and intercept launch site for the THAAD missile program, a current spin-off of Reagan-era Star Wars "Bright Pebbles" strategic planning. Every so often, the TV crawler announces a launch from Vandenberg AFB in CA, and the civilian employees walk from their homes for the free light-show, standing in the dark at North Point, looking out over the native worker bedroom community of Ebeye, a few miles to the north, until the incoming ICBM warheads streak across the sky to thump into the waters of the lagoon.

Kwajalein currently houses about 1,500 civilian employees, under USAKA domain, working in two separate entities, KLS and IRE, KLS being the logistic support group, and IRE being the missile group. Raytheon and Boeing are the two main contractors, with Boeing likely to win the next five year base support contract as the THAAD program ramps up. Other contractors come and go. The Army presence is very subdued, entirely administrative, but there is a "bit" of beaurocracy.

Expatriate tax-status, the jobs are low - paying by Stateside, but the percs many people consider more than make up for it. There are, for example, no expenses of eny kind, all housing, utilities and transportation are included. (For single-status, even the food is free!)

There is no commute, in fact, there are no cars, everyone uses bicycles to get around. And for recreation, there's an endless bonanza, swimming pools, reef snorkeling, low - cost boat and dive rental, golf, bowling, large playing fields, tennis, handball courts, a complete wood and ceramic shop, and library.

Every weekend, free first-run movie play at the Richardson outdoor theatre, it's quite a sight all the bicycles with their flash lights like fireflies between the lanes of palm trees in the moonlight.