Naval Weapons Station Earle

Naval Weapons Station Earle has a pier so long — 2.9 miles of elevated railway stretching into Raritan Bay — that driving to the end of it is a commute, and loading munitions onto ships involves a logistics chain that starts in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and ends at the waterfront in a journey that feels like a metaphor for your career: long, winding, and occasionally explosive. You're in Monmouth County, New Jersey, which means you're close to New York City, which means you'll spend all your money in Manhattan and then come back to a weapons station in the woods and question the entire concept of military compensation while eating at the one restaurant in Colts Neck. The Jersey Shore beaches (the real ones, not the TV show ones) are 15 minutes east — Sandy Hook, Long Branch, and Asbury Park have boardwalks, bars, and Bruce Springsteen energy that seeps into everything. Most people in New Jersey don't know this base exists, and the Navy seems to prefer it that way — the station is basically a forest with ordnance, surrounded by horse farms and McMansions whose owners have no idea they live next to enough munitions to rearrange the geography. The deer on base outnumber the sailors and fear nothing — including your car, your authority, and the concept of headlights. Princeton is 40 minutes west for feeling intellectually inadequate. NYC is an hour north for feeling financially inadequate. The base provides both munitions and existential crises.