Example 1 that US needs better geography classes in school

Hooboy... just check out this headine: Georgia in Running for New Military Center
Now, I know what you're thinking, right: "they just fought a war with Russia, why would we put a military center there?!"
Ah, but then you get into the article, and realize that (1) you're waaaaay off base, and (2) it's worse than you thought.

Five Georgia lawmakers and Gov. Sonny Perdue asked the Defense Department Wednesday to make Georgia the home base for the military’s new U.S. Africa Command.
“Georgia provides a compelling location” for the center, the officials wrote in a letter urging that Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Fort McPherson or Fort Gillem be selected for the center.
AFRICOM, as the joint command center is known, now operates in Stuttgart, Germany. The Defense Department, which so far has been unable to reach an agreement for a base in Africa, is now looking at possible U.S. sites.
That has set off an energetic competition for the center, which is expected to have 1,300 personnel, about half of them civilian. South Carolina officials have been pushing for basing the installation in Charleston.

How much worse?
Let me count the ways:
1. AFRICOM is supposed to cover down on, you know, Africa. Air distance from Stuttgart, Germany (current location) to pretty much anywhere in Africa is far, far shorter than from Atlanta or Charleston.
2. Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem are being BRAC'ed for a reason. It's too damn expensive to keep a military HQ, with it's top-heavy structure and cost-of-living allowances, in a major metropolitan area. FORSCOM is moving to Fort Bragg because Atlanta was a bad choice for a major HQ; why on Earth would they move FORSCOM out and AFRICOM in?
3. Ditto Charleston, though it's less major metropolitan area than really expensive city-by-the-sea. The naval base got whacked for that reason.
4. What possible joint, international, or inter-agency process do you hope to engender by parking the HQ on a single-service base, with no additional space for any other agencies there?

For more on AFRICOM's purpose and some initial challenges, check out this article:

AFRICOM's primary goal is to help African nations handle the continent's problems without outside intervention, with the oft-stated goal of keeping American troops out of Africa for the next fifty years. Described by one reservist as 'Peace Corps with a weapon,' AFRICOM was billed as a post–Cold War experiment combining diplomacy, development, and defense. This '3D' approach is supposed to integrate the efforts of the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Defense Department, among other agencies.
The proper balance between these partners has yet to be found. The project is at the beginning of what promises to be a long process, but the eventual character of AFRICOM will have far-reaching consequences for the U.S. approach to Africa and the rest of the developing world.

By: Brant