Will Ensure All States Have Air National Guard Presence
The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission wrapped up
four days of deliberations in final actions Aug. 26 and 27 by
voting to turn Pope Air Force Base, NC, into an Army airfield and
recommending sweeping recommendations to revamp the Air National
Guard and consolidate its operations.
The nine-member commission deviated significantly from the
Pentagon's proposed plan to realign the Air Guard, passing a
recommendation that would ensure every state with an existing Air
Guard unit would retain at least some Guard aircraft.
Specific details of the plan, including charts used in the
deliberation, were expected to be released Monday, and DoD
officials were reviewing the votes earlier today to assess their
full impact, if implemented.
The panel also approved moving almost 15,000 U.S. troops from
Germany to four stateside bases as part of the Army's modernization
initiative. Gaining posts under the plan will be Fort Knox, KY;
Fort Bliss, TX; Fort Bragg, NC; and Fort Riley, KS.
The decisions, made over the course of four days in Arlington,
VA, will be reflected in a final report to be sent to President
Bush by Sept. 8. If he concurs, the president will send the final
list to Congress, which can accept or reject it in its entirety,
but not change it.
The votes follow months of hearings around the country regarding
DoD's proposal to reshape the military infrastructure and eliminate
excess capacity by closing 33 major bases and realigning 29
others.
Defense officials had estimated the plan would save some $49
billion over the next 20 years, although that figure is expected to
alter dramatically based on the BRAC decisions.
In major actions since Aug. 24, the BRAC commission voted to
close:
- Walter Reed Army Medical Center and moving most of its mission
to the new Walter Reed National Medical Center in nearby Bethesda,
MD, current site of the National Naval Medical Center;
- Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas,
consolidating medical operations for the region at a new San
Antonio Regional Medical Center at nearby Fort Sam Houston
- Fort Monmouth, NJ
- Fort Gillem, GA
- Fort McPherson, GA
- Fort Monroe, VA
- U.S. Army Garrison, Selfridge, MI
- Naval Station Pascagoula, MS
- Naval Air Station Atlanta, GA
- Naval Station Ingleside, TX
- Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, TX
- Brooks City-Base, TX
- Onizuka Air Force Station, CA
- Galena Airport Forward Operation Location, Alaska
- Almost 400 Army Reserve and Army National Guard facilities,
creating joint centers.
The panel voted to keep open:
- Submarine Base, New London, CT.
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, ME
- Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD
- Cannon Air Force Base, NM, until at least 2009, and urged DoD
to find a new mission for the base, if possible
- Hawthorne Army Depot, NV
- Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA
- Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, establishing a governing
board to coordinate education programs between the school and the
Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson Air Force
Base, OH.
The panel also voted to:
- Wait until March 31, 2006, to decide whether to close Naval Air
Station Oceana, VA, to close giving local and state authorities
time to make proposed changes to limit residential encroachment on
the base
- Consolidate operations at Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base and
Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in New Jersey, creating a
single joint base under a central commander at McGuire
- Consolidate 26 Defense Finance and Accounting Service offices
into five: in Cleveland, OH; Limestone, ME, at the former Loring
Air Force Base Rome, NY, at the former Griffiss Air Force Base at
the Defense Supply Center-Columbus, OH; the Bean Federal Center in
Indianapolis, IN, at the former Fort Benjamin Harrison and in
Alexandria, VA
- Move the dental training school at Sheppard Air Force Base,
Kansas, to Fort Sam Houston as part of a new consolidated medical
center
- Realign rather than close Red River Army Depot, TX
- Keep the Night Vision Lab at Fort Belvoir, VA, instead of
moving it to Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. Order a study of the
practicality of converting a chemical weapons incinerator to
incinerate conventional munitions before deciding whether to close
Deseret Chemical Depot, Utah.
- Realign Randolph Air Force Base, TX, by moving its
undergraduate navigator training to Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL
- Transfer the Army's 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, TX,
to Fort Carson, CO
- Keep the Army Logistics School at Fort Eustis, VA, rather than
moving it to Fort Rucker, AL
- Block the move of active-component combat aircraft from Eielson
Air Force Base, Alaska
- Move thousands of defense jobs from leased space in Northern
Virginia to Fort Belvoir, VA, Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA, and
Fort Meade, MD
- Stop the move of about 1,000 jobs to Hanscom Air Force Base,
MA