Navy Tragedy on the Horizon

Let me take you back to 2009. Twenty-something’s were hanging onto MySpace despite migrating over to Facebook. “21 Gun Salute” and “I Gotta Feeling” were sold as mp3s and CDs. The aughts were nearing an end and the Obamas moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

San Diego was the world to me. The boardwalk, the beach, the coolness of being casual, it made my heart sing. You couldn’t help but get yourself a pair of Rainbows and a longboard. My dream house was four blocks up from the beach, a white two-story, with a white picket-fence, and perfectly placed rose bushes. It’s still there and likely costs in the multi-millions. For me it exuded a family vibe bright with sunshine and love forever.

San Diego is home to Naval Air Station North Island located in the glamorous and elite community of Coronado, California. Coronado is the height of vintage sexy. Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, and James Stewart garnished the famed Hotel Del Coronado over the years. During World War II, uniformed members of the military relished the nightlife underneath the recognizable red roof.

To this day, Coronado is home to retired admirals, retired pilots, and military members fortunate enough to be able to afford the millionaire lifestyle of Coronado.The rest of the force lives south of the strand or across the Coronado Bridge in the mean streets of San Diego — scratch that — they’re no longer the mean streets of the Gaslamp District. It will cost you at least 800K to snag a dump of a shanty among the 1,000-square-foot “mansions.” But, if I had a million dollars…

The cost of living might have changed, but the magic of Coronado has never dwindled. In 2006 a new batch of young pilots, like the ones before them, crossed the bridge and made their first entry onto the base that their generation recognized from the first, “Top Gun.”

This class of freshly shaven faces and brave women didn’t know the tragedy that 2009 held for them. Navy Tragedy on the Horizon

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The famed Hotel Del Coronado in the distance.

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