Military Waste. Joshua O. Reno

      UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

      University of California Press

      Oakland, California

      © 2019 by Joshua O. Reno

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Reno, Joshua, author.

      Title: Military waste : the unexpected consequences of permanent war readiness / Joshua O. Reno.

      Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019019315 (print) | ISBN 9780520974128 (e-book) | ISBN 9780520316010 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520316027 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      Subjects: LCSH: Military supplies—Environmental aspects. | Military supplies—Social aspects.

      Classification: LCC UC260 .R39 2020 (print) | DDC 363.72/8—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019019315

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980770

      Manufactured in the United States of America

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       This book is dedicated to my parents, James and Barbara Reno. One taught me about machines, the other about the environment. Both taught me to value peace over war.

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction

      1. Worth the Waste

      2. Flight or Fight

       Coauthored with Priscilla Bennett

      3. Sunk Cost

       Coauthored with Priscilla Bennett

      4. The Wrong Stuff

      5. Domestic Blowback

      6. Island Erasure

       Conclusion

       Notes

       Reference List

       Index

Acknowledgments

      There are many people to thank for their help with this book. First and foremost, there are the people who welcomed Priscilla Bennett and me into their lives to share their experiences of military waste, especially: Drew Deskur and the Kopernik Observatory & Science Center, as well as members of the Kopernik Astronomical Society; James Stemm and the staff at the Pima Air & Space Museum; Terry Shelton and Arizona Aircraft Recovery and Restoration; Eric Firestone and Carlo McCormick; the incomparable Susan Sherwood and the volunteers at TechWorks who agreed to speak with me; the incredible Joe Weatherby, as well as the History of Diving Museum, Valeo Films, and Mote Marine Laboratory. Special thanks are due to Jeremy and the Getman family, to Kathy Lippincott and Richard Rich for trusting me to carry out my very first ever ethnographic project in Elmira in 2001 and 2002, portions of which are finally appearing in print all these years later.

      The following people provided helpful commentary at critical times in the development of this project: Catherine Alexander, Dominic Boyer, Jamie Cross, Darcie DeAngelo, Gökçe Günel, Britt Halvorson, Gay Hawkins, Gabriel Hecht, David Henig, Doug Holmes, Cymene Howe, Rachelle Jereza, Eleana Kim, BrieAnna Langlie, Josh Lepawsky, Carl Lipo, Peter Little, Katherine Martineau, Oana Mateescu, Randy McGuire, David Mixter, David Pedersen, Sabina Perrino, Lisa Ruth Rand, Vilma Santiago-Irizarry, Daniel Sosna, Ruth Van Dyke, Vasiliki Touhouliotis, Matthew Wolf-Meyer, and Leah Zani. I also have to acknowledge generous support from fellow participants in the Indian Ocean Energies workshops organized in Johannesburg in 2015 and 2016 by WiSER, especially Sharad Chari, Jamie Cross, Jatin Dua, Isabel Hofmeyr, Pamila Gupta, Sarah Nutall, Meg Samuelson and Jennifer Wenzel; participants in the “Putting Dirt in Its Place” conference in Cambridge in 2017, especially Catherine Alexander and Patrick O’Hare; participants in the “Everybody Is Fixing Something” salon in Edinburgh (also in 2017), especially Jamie Cross, Jamie Furniss, Rachel Harkness, Lara Houston, Declan Murray, and Peter Redfield. Thank you also to the organizers of the Mellon Foundation’s EcoCritical Sawyer Seminar on Wastelands at Washington University in St. Louis, for inviting me to present sample book chapters, with special thanks to Heather O’Leary, Nancy Reynolds, Vasiliki Touhouliotis, and all those who participated in the incredibly productive workshop that followed the talk. Thanks also are due to Robin Nagle and Rozy Fredericks for organizing a discard studies workshop where a draft chapter of this book was discussed, as well as participants Rebeca Cuntala, Jacob Doherty, Cassie Fennell, Julie Livingstone, Emma Park, Nicole Ramirez, Jennifer Wenzel, and Amy Zhang, all of whom offered helpful commentary. Finally, thanks to the organizers of the RATS 2016 “Radical Ontologies for the Contemporary Past” conference in Binghamton in 2016, specifically Maura Bainbridge and Rui Gomes Coelho.

      Several kind souls commented on specific chapters or proposal drafts, including Catherine Alexander, Kim De Wolff, Siobhan Hart, Laura Jeffrey, and Kearbey Robinson. Ema Grama deserves special recognition for reading and providing invaluable feedback on more than one chapter. I am solely responsible for what resulted from these dialogues (except where Priscilla Bennett is listed as coauthor). Funding for this research came courtesy of Binghamton University and the Harpur College Dean’s Office. Thanks to Chris Reiber for helping to ensure I received funding for this research at an early stage. While only two chapters bear her name as coauthor, my collaboration with Priscilla Bennett ultimately made this project possible. I am deeply thankful, both for her impeccable skills as an ethnographer and her commitment to seeing the research through to the end. As always, Reed Malcolm was a helpful guide throughout the life of this project, for which I am very grateful. Thanks also are owed to the anonymous peer reviewers for providing supportive and constructive feedback.

      Writing a book means making sacrifices. Since I would always rather spend time with Charlie Reno than write about anything, I am thankful to him for refusing my company at crucial times in the writing process. Sharing a life with Jeanne Reno means watching in admiration as she keeps people safe and protects the environment with unmatched, unflappable perseverance. She is a constant source of inspiration to try and do something similarly worthwhile, even if I know I’m bound to fail.

      This book is dedicated to my parents, Jim and Barb Reno. Anyone can give life; not everyone teaches you right from wrong and the moves to the Time Warp.

Introduction

      Wars are wasteful. They lay waste to landscapes and lives and leave destructive traces behind in the pain of personal loss, injury, and trauma, the hazard of hidden and unexploded ordnance, and the slow violence of toxic contamination. But preparing for a war you never fight is also wasteful. Even if shots are never fired, bombs never dropped, permanent preparation for war diverts natural resources, productive forces, and political focus away from other pressing concerns. It can also be just as destructive for human health and the environment. World