Naval Base Coronado

Naval Base Coronado is the most beautiful place to watch other people's dreams die. You'll eat at the chow hall with a direct line of sight to BUD/S candidates carrying logs over their heads, covered in sand, soaking wet, looking like they've been exorcised by Poseidon, and you'll think 'I'm good with my rate, thanks' while casually eating your grilled cheese. The base is on the Coronado peninsula — Silver Strand, Hotel del Coronado, beaches that belong in a travel magazine — a place so nice that San Diego real estate agents use it as a verb: 'We could Coronado this listing.' If you're NSW (Naval Special Warfare), this is the center of the universe: SEALs, SWCC, EOD, the whole community trains, lives, and operates from here with an intensity that makes the energy on base feel like a coiled spring. If you're ship's company, you're living in the nicest neighborhood in the Navy and still complaining about duty days, which is the most sailor thing imaginable. The Coronado Bridge is your daily commute and one of the most photographed bridges in California. The beach at sunset is free therapy. The tacos in Imperial Beach (IB) are cheap, authentic, and better than anything the base galley has attempted. Your Instagram will look like a vacation account. Your eval will look like everyone else's. The cognitive dissonance is the real San Diego experience.