"If you
don't bring it with you, you won't find it here", should be the motto
of every little Marshall Islands atoll, low-lying Micronesian coral reefs
spread like sea shells in a galaxy of South Pacific. Well, not actually
"south" South Pacific, the Marshall Islands are more near-equator, half-way
between Hawaii and Borneo, both in their geographic location, and in their
geo-political mindset.
Immediately
after WWII, the USArmy began establishing bases in the Marshall Islands,
known more famously perhaps for the nuclear testing program at Bikini Atoll.
Kwajalein Atoll became the eyes and ears of the military in the Australian
hemisphere, currently the most highly developed installation of it's kind
in the world. The two huge antennaes nick - named "Altair" and "Tradex"
rotate and gimbel on circular rails, tracking near - earth orbit objects
with millimeter precision.
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.
-
4Escape is a search engine that searches our network of websites each of
which shares a common theme: International relocation, living ? investing
overseas, overseas jobs, embassies, maps, international real estate, asset
protection, articles about how to live ? invest overseas, Caribbean properties
and lifestyles, overseas retirement, offshore investments, our yacht broker
portal, our house swap portal, articles on overseas employment, international
vacation rentals, international vacation packages, travel resources,
every embassy in the world, maps of the world, our three very popular eZines
. . . and, as they are fond to say, a great deal more.
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.
Most people
who arrive in Kwajalein either get right back on the plane, or end up staying
for two or three years, some people have worked here for forty years, if
you can imagine! The family housing is better than the married trailers
which are better than the single barracks, and for kids it's "da kin"
Kwajalein
is a return to the 50's, to Tom Sawyer days, no crime, no hectic pace,
pure play.
So how do you
get here?
Well, people
being the way people are, sooner or later they decide that civilization
has more benefits overall than near-paradise, and PCS.
So jobs constantly
become available, and once on Kwajalein, spouses can find good paying "on-island"
support jobs also.
Submit a resume
tailored for independent initiative, team-playing and technical problem-solving
to HR at Raytheon Range Systems Group, MA, or Boeing Theatre Missile Defense
Program, WA.
- Began Summer
1998 - Now with almost a half million subscribers, out eZine is the resource
that expats, and wantabe expats turn to for information. Our archives
now have thousands of articles and each month we publish another issue
to a growing audience of international readers. Over 100 people a
day subscribe to our eZine. We've been interviewed and referenced
by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Washington Post, London Talk Show
Radio, C-Span, BBC Click Online, Yahoo Magazine, the New York Times, and
countless other media sources. Featuring International Lifestyles
~ Overseas Jobs ~ Expat Resources ~ Offshore Investments ~ Overseas
Retirement - Second Passports ~ Disappearing Acts ~ Offshore eCommerce
~ Unique Travel ~ Iconoclastic Views ~ Personal Accounts ~ Views From Afar
~ Two things have ushered us into a world without borders... the end of
the cold war and the advent of the world wide web of global communications
? commerce. Ten years and over one hundred issues! We're just
getting started - Gilly Rich - Editor
