No. 7: Jacksonville, N.C.

The bond between the community in Jacksonville, N.C., and nearby CampLejuene has always been close, but the connection became more meaningfulafter the Beirut bombing in 1983 killed 241 Marines. Nearly all of them werebased at the Marine Corps facility in eastern North Carolina."There was a real outreach from the community," said Jim Reichardt,director of the economic development office for Onslow County, N.C. "Peoplewanted to make sure that the friends and family of the fallen Marines were wellcared for. ... That spirit and bond has just grown stronger. You feel it almostimmediately."The community built a memorial to honor the dead, and a Marine Corpsmuseum also is in the works, he said.Camp Lejuene is the major driver of business in the area known for its fishing,rural lifestyle and close proximity to the North Carolina coast. The Bureauof Economic Analysis put the number of military and civilian jobs in the area at48,025 in 2005, with about 43,000 of those being military jobs.As the current Base Realignment and Closure round moves forward, the militaryjobs should increase by about 11,500, Reichardt said. Another 4,000 incivilian jobs also will move to the area. After families are included, as many as25,000 more people will begin moving to the area next year.In addition, a $1.5 billion construction initiative at Camp Lejuene may doubleduring the next five years, he said.Supporting the Marines on base are large contractors such as BAE SystemsInc.; Eagan, McAlister Associates Inc.; General Dynamics Corp.; L-3Communications Titan Group; Northrop Grumman Corp.; and ScienceApplications International Corp.A plus for many contractors is that about 6,000 Marines a year end theirenlistments, and many want to stay in the area, creating a steady pool of newemployees, Reichardt said."A lot of defense companies are looking at us in part because of the workforce,"he said. "We have a lot of healthy, intelligent young people."