The house where I live in Chiayi is just a few kilometers away from one of the country’s major air force bases, with F-16s practicing take-offs and landings almost seven days a week, and flying high above the southwestern plains here with ear-piercing roars.
I don’t mind the sound of the military jets taking off early in the morning or even at night, Saturday and Sunday mornings, too, because I know that Taiwan’s air force is playing a vital role in the nation’s defense.
But the daily sounds of the F-16s from the nearby air force base remind me of my younger days in my native Massachusetts, during the old days of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. My home there was close to an important US military base for massive B-52 bombers and other kinds of military jets.