On the eastern end of the 45-square-mile base are the prison camps, hundreds of cells spread across a site called Radio Range. On the west, the Department of Homeland Security has staked out space to shelter 10,000 people in tents should the United States decide to provide a haven here from a Caribbean humanitarian crisis.

''Everyone is trying to figure out how fast it'll empty,'' Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta, the base public affairs officer, said of the base.

But, he says, Guantánamo's ''core mission'' as a Navy seaport and airstrip will remain: ``We're going to continue on. We're the only base in the Caribbean. We're the only base in the Fourth Fleet. We're not going anywhere.''

Adding to the uncertainty is this: House Democrats this past week sliced $50 million from a Pentagon budget request, put there provisionally in case it decides to retrofit or build a new prison somewhere else. The Senate has yet to say whether it will also block the funding.

But there's a mounting clamor among both Democrats and Republicans in Congress for the Obama White House to articulate an evacuation and relocation plan.

Meantime, people posted here for long periods often compare Guantánamo with 1950s small-town America, complete with a school system whose graduating class this year has a record 19 seniors.

The long-timers have learned to tolerate the temporary troops on six- to 12-month rotations the way Floridians welcome snowbirds. More people means more flights from the United States, more chances to socialize, better supplies.

It also means slower service and longer lines everywhere, from the barber who gives a $6.75 haircut to the lone supermarket, where a pound of salami sells for $2.85.

The McDonald's was here before the prison camps. So was the downtown movie drive-in and bowling alley.

But the war on terror brought more downtime distractions, more first-run movies, mini-golf, Starbucks and Taco Bell.

The hospital got a CAT scan. The Navy added fresh fruit and meat cargo flights to the twice-monthly shipments of food by barge from Jacksonville.

Now old-timers wonder how soon it will be before shops and celebrity visits disappear along with the detainees.

Before the detention center, flights and visitors were rare. It was so sleepy here that the U.S. base commander, a Navy captain, met a Cuban general without fanfare each month over coffee and pastries.

Now, the control tower is staffed around the clock to handle a steady stream of visitors: journalists for package tours; Red Cross delegates to inspect conditions; technicians to fine-tune equipment; Miss Universe, and other entertainers to distract the troops.

Members of Congress come through on day trips to sing the prison camps' praises. Civil liberties lawyers fly in to see detainees and then condemn the camps.

Now, residents wonder, how many guest quarters will Guantánamo really need? How many maids? Will there be a new assignment before services shut down?

It has gotten more crowded at the schools for sailors' kids, and there's suburban-style tract housing, barbecues on the beach, bake sales and holiday parades in this community surrounded by Cuban minefields where national security is part of the fabric of life.

On a recent Friday, members of the Coast Guard stripped a drug boat as they searched for tons of hidden cocaine while sailors' wives drove toddlers to story time at the public library.

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