Editor,

I love living in Coupeville. My daughter thrives in school. It’s peaceful and friendly; what a great town. It’s home.

I’m really concerned for Coupeville right now because of the proposed over-the-top increase in Growler flights. 6,000 touch-and-goes a year is rough; it gets really noisy but it was do-able. 24,000 will not be.

That’s 33 touch-and-goes every single day of the year, weekends and holidays included. Coupeville will become a ghost town.

To all of you in the VAQ community, I admire your bravery. I know some history of the “wild weasels.” First in, last out. I commend you.

So perhaps some armchair admiral can explain to me why we are still building and using these aircraft. Seems a tragic waste of taxpayer dollars.

With our only Pacific adversary, China, deploying the DF21-D missile, range of 1,500 miles; now probably an “m” or “n” variant, and the “A2-AD” policy being adopted, our carriers cannot get anywhere near close enough to justify launching a Growler. Range 700 miles.

Oh wait. Boeing is working on a refueling drone, the MQ-25.

The Navy will have four (count ‘em, four) by 2024.

Should be like 400. I’m sure Xi Jinping is quaking in his boots.

Better hope that someone in the Pentagon has some better ideas than the Navy’s current plan or we should start taking Mandarin lessons.

William E. Schroeder

Coupeville