Since the mid 1980s, the British army's phalanx of hilltop forts have stood guard along the Northern Ireland Border as part of a huge security operation to foil determined and ruthless terrorists.
Nowhere more so than in the hard-line IRA territory of south Armagh where 12 of the look-out towers have become the most visible and hated symbol of the British army presence in a part of the world known infamously as "Bandit Country".
Soldiers have lived a precarious existence within the posts using state-of-the-art listening devices and long range cameras to maintain round-the-clock surveillance.
Many attempted bombing runs have been foiled and lives saved over the years, while the squaddies who sheltered there became targets themselves.
Now, with decommissioning under way, these structures are set to be dismantled one by one, a sign to the people of this republican stronghold that the war is over.
To the people living in the shadow of the military monoliths, demilitarisation cannot come quickly enough.
Declan Fearon of the South Armagh Farmers and Residents Committee is expecting a speedy removal of the lookout posts that have scarred the countryside around places such as Crossmaglen and Forkhill.
The south Armagh businessman lives directly underneath the fort at Faughill Mountain near the village of Jonesborough.
"Now that decommissioning has occurred, there is absolutely no reason for having them here. I would expect them to begin destroying them immediately," he said.
To people like Mr Fearon, the benefits accrued by the rest of Northern Ireland after the ceasefires of 1994 have passed his area by.
The sight of troops patrolling tells him that his land is still under occupation.
"Life is intolerable here - the constant sound of army helicopters and the fact that they are constantly sitting watching your every move," he said.
Despite nationalist calls for the immediate dismantling of all bases, it may yet be a gradual process.
Security chiefs argue they must remain in a high state of alert because of the deadly threat posed by dissident republican groups such as the "Real IRA" and the Continuity IRA.
But Mr Fearon said that if the level of violence was the issue, then the army would be building watchtowers in deeply divided north Belfast or the Protestant heartland of north Antrim, where there has been a pipe-bomb campaign against Catholic families.
"There is always going to be a threat from dissidents on both sides of the divide, but people in south Armagh haven't enjoyed the benefits of the peace process.
"The fact is the British government has tinkered with the issue of demilitarisation and now this must end."