Army Nixes ‘Six Flags Over Fort Bragg’

Posted on Aug 8, 2006

Illustration: Blair Golson

Visitors to Virginia will not soon be riding the above M-1 tank roller coaster, thanks to the Army’s nixing of a proposal for a military theme park. (Photo a satire.)

By Blair Golson

The Army shot down a developer’s proposal for a military theme park, saying it preferred something “tasteful and appropriate.”

Of course, this is the same military whose recruitment efforts have included inserting story lines into episodes of “The Mickey Mouse Club,” according to the book “Operation Hollywood.”

AP:

The Army said Tuesday it will not consider a Florida developer’s proposal to build a military theme park on a northern Virginia Army base, including rides that would allow visitors to “command the latest M-1 tank” and “feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall.”

The developer’s plans called for a military-style theme park at Fort Belvoir, a few miles south of the nation’s capital, in conjunction with plans for a new National Museum of the United States Army scheduled to be built at the base by 2011.

But on Tuesday, after a front-page article about the proposal appeared in The Washington Post, Army officials said the proposal was “dead on arrival.”

“That proposal ... was dead on arrival, and will be dead on arrival if resubmitted,” said Keith Eastin, the Army’s assistant secretary for installations and environment.

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