Full BRAC List - SA Comes Out Ahead. Loses Brooks

[Nbadan]

Pentagon List of Recommended Military Base, Facility Closings
Associated Press
Friday, May 13, 2005

A list obtained by The Associated Press of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for closure Friday:

Alabama
Abbott U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuskegee
Anderson U.S. Army Reserve Center, Troy
Armed Forces Reserve Center, Mobile
BG William P. Screws U.S. Army Reserve Center, Montgomery
Fort Ganey Army National Guard Reserve Center, Mobile
Fort Hanna Army National Guard Reserve Center, Birmingham
Gary U.S. Army Reserve Center, Enterprise
Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Montgomery
Navy Reserve Center, Tuscaloosa
The Adjutant General Bldg, AL Army National Guard, Montgomery
Wright U.S. Army Reserve Center

Alaska
Kulis Air Guard Station

Arizona
Air Force Research Lab, Mesa
Allen Hall Armed Forces Reserve Center, Tucson

Arkansas
El Dorado Armed Forces Reserve Center
Stone U.S. Army Reserve Center, Pine Bluff

California
Armed Forces Reserve Center Bell
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Oakland
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Bernardino
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Diego
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Seaside
Naval Support Activity Corona
Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Detachment Concord
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Encino
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Los Angeles
Onizuka Air Force Station
Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant

Connecticut
Sgt. Libby U.S. Army Reserve Center, New Haven
Submarine Base New London
Turner U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fairfield
U.S. Army Reserve Center Maintenance Support Facility, Middletown

Delaware
Kirkwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Newark

Florida
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Orlando
Navy Reserve Center, St. Petersburg

Georgia
Fort Gillem
Fort McPherson
Inspector/Instructor, Rome
Naval Air Station Atlanta
Naval Supply Corps School, Athens
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Columbus

Hawaii
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Honokaa

Idaho
Navy Reserve Center, Pocatello

Illinois
Armed Forces Reserve Center, Carbondale
Navy Reserve Center, Forest Park

Indiana
Navy Marine Corps Reserve Center, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Bunker Hill
Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Indianapolis
Navy Reserve Center, Evansville
Newport Chemical Depot
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lafayette
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Seston

Iowa
Navy Reserve Center, Cedar Rapids
Navy Reserve Center, Sioux City
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Dubuque

Kansas
Kansas Army Ammunition Plant

Kentucky
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Paducah
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Lexington
Navy Reserve Center, Lexington
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Louisville
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Maysville

Louisiana
Baton Rouge Army National Guard Reserve Center
Naval Support Activity, New Orleans
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Baton Rouge
Roberts U.S. Army Reserve Center, Baton Rouge

Maine
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Limestone
Naval Reserve Center, Bangor
Naval Shipyard Portsmouth

Maryland
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Patuxent River
Navy Reserve Center, Adelphi
Pfc. Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center, Frederick

Massachusetts
Malony U.S. Army Reserve Center
Otis Air Guard Base
Westover U.S. Army Reserve Center, Citopee

Michigan
Navy Reserve Center Marquette
Parisan U.S. Army Reserve Center, Lansing
Selfridge Army Activity
W.K. Kellogg Airport Air Guard Station

Minnesota
Navy Reserve Center Duluth

Mississippi
Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant
Naval Station, Pascagoula
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Vicksburg

Missouri
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Jefferson Barracks
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Kansas City
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, St. Louis
Marine Corps Support Center, Kansas City
Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Kansas
Navy Reserve Center, Cape Girardeau

Montana
Galt Hall U.S. Army Reserve Center, Great Falls

Nebraska
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Columbus
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Grand Island
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Kearny
Naval Recruiting District Headquarters, Omaha
Navy Reserve Center, Lincoln

Nevada
Hawthorne Army Depot

New Hampshire
Doble U.S. Army Reserve Center, Portsmouth
Naval Shipyard Portsmouth

New Jersey
Fort Monmouth
Inspector/Instructor Center, West Trenton
Kilmer U.S. Army Reserve Center, Edison

New Mexico
Cannon Air Force Base
Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center, Albuquerque

New York
Armed Forces Reserve Center, Amityville
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Niagra Falls
Carpenter U.S. Army Reserve Center, Poughkeepsie
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Rome
Navy Recruiting District Headquarters, Buffalo
Navy Reserve Center Glenn Falls
Navy Reserve Center Horsehead
Navy Reserve Center Watertown
Niagra Falls International Airport Air Guard Station

North Carolina
Navy Reserve Center, Asheville
Niven U.S. Army Reserve Center, Albermarle

Ohio
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Mansfield
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Westerville
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Dayton
Mansfield Lahm Municipal Airport Air Guard Station
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Akron
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Cleveland
Parrott U.S. Army Reserve Center, Kenton
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Whitehall

Oklahoma
Armed Forces Reserve Center Broken Arrow
Armed Forces Reserve Center Muskogee
Army National Guard Reserve Center Tishomingo
Krowse U.S. Army Reserve Center, Oklahoma City
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Tulsa
Oklahoma City (95th)

Pennsylvania
Bristol
Engineering Field Activity Northeast
Kelly Support Center
Naval Air Station Willow Grove
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Reading
North Penn U.S. Army Reserve Center, Morristown
Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station
Serrenti U.S. Army Reserve Center, Scranton
U.S. Army Reserve Center Bloomsburg
U.S. Army Reserve Center Lewisburg
U.S. Army Reserve Center Williamsport
W. Reese U.S. Army Reserve Center/OMS, Chester

Puerto Rico
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Humacao
Lavergne U.S. Army Reserve Center, Bayamon

Rhode Island
Harwood U.S. Army Reserve Center, Providence
USARC Bristol

South Carolina
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Charleston
South Naval Facilities Engineering Command

South Dakota
Ellsworth Air Force Base

Tennessee
U.S. Army Reserve Area Maintenance Support Facility, Kingsport

Texas
Army National Guard Reserve Center No. 2, Dallas
Army National Guard Reserve Center (Hondo Pass), El Paso
Army National Guard Reserve Center, California Crossing
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Ellington
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Lufkin
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Marshall
Army National Guard Reserve Center, New Braunfels
Brooks City Base
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, San Antonio
Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant
Naval Station, Ingleside
Navy Reserve Center, Lubbock
Navy Reserve Center, Orange
Red River Army Depot
U.S. Army Reserve Center No. 2, Houston

Utah
Deseret Chemical Depot

Virginia
Fort Monroe

Washington
1LT Richard H. Walker U.S. Army Reserve Center
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Everett
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Tacoma
U.S. Army Reserve Center, Fort Lawton
Vancouver Barracks

West Virginia
Bias U.S. Army Reserve Center, Huntington
Fairmont U.S. Army Reserve Center
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Moundsville

Wisconsin
Gen. Mitchell International Airport ARS
Navy Reserve Center, La Crosse
Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center, Madison
Olson U.S. Army Reserve Center, Madison
U.S. Army Reserve Center, O'Connell

Wyoming
Army Aviation Support Facility, Cheyenne
Army National Guard Reserve Center, Thermopolis

Link:Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/Search?keywords=Spencer%20S.%20Hsu%20F-16)

[Nbadan]

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Friday proposed closing Brooks City-Base, Naval Station Ingleside and two other major Texas installations as part of a sweeping transformation of the armed services that will have a resounding impact nationwide.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recommended the elimination of 180 installations, including 33 major bases, as part of an effort to save $48.8 billion in spending and retool the military for the war on terror.

“Our current arrangements, designed for the Cold War, must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st Century challenges,” Rumsfeld said.

Several states would be hard hit by the Pentagon recommendations, which now go to an independent panel that has scheduled hearings on the closure list next week.

In Texas, officials immediately questioned the value of closing Brooks and Ingleside, as well as Red River Army Depot and the Lone Star Ammunition Plant, both in Texarkana.

The Pentagon also wants to close its portion of Ellington Field near Houston, scrapping an Air Force reserve F-16 wing there.

“This recommendation list is a first step in the base realignment process and is by no means final,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

The biggest blow to the state would be the closure of Ingleside, a facility built with $50 million in funds from Texas and Nueces County in the 1980s.

Shifting the missions at Ingleside to facilities in California and other ports would cost the Coastal Bend region about 2,200 jobs.

“Our all-consuming job,” Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said, “is to do everything in our power to get our South Texas bases off the list.”

Texarkana would see a loss of 2,650 jobs with the closure Red River Army Depot and the Lone Star Ammunition Plant.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced the creation of a “strike force” to help communities facing a base closure.

Perry said the goal would be to convince officials of the targeted installations' importance in the war on terror “so that those bases remain open.”

Closure of four of Texas' 17 major active-duty military installations would crimp the $49 billion in annual federal spending that adds to the state's economy.

The state also stands to lose federal spending at reserve and guard facilities, like Ellington Field.

The Department of Defense estimated that Texas will see a net increase of 6,150 military and civilian jobs, with Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio (9,364) and Fort Bliss (11,501) showing the largest gains.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, said the expansion at Fort Bliss “is the result of a solid strategy and lots of hard work by our community.”

The Pentagon also proposed a major restructuring of its military medicine capabilities, with the largest transformation coming from a consolidation of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington with National Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston would become a San Antonio regional medical center with the transfer of the 59th Medical Wing at Lackland AFB and missions from realigned bases, including Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls.

The two trauma centers at BAMC and Wilford Hall in San Antonio would be combined at the regional center, reducing operating costs.

Pentagon officials put the price tag of closing and realigning bases at $24 billion, starting in 2006 when the six-year process of shuttering facilities begins.

Eliminating the facilities and realigning missions to cut duplication would save $48.8 billion, with $5.5 billion in recurring annual savings, Pentagon officials said.

The Bush administration supported the cuts, the fifth round of closures and realignments since 1988, saying they are necessary to restructure the military and prepare for new threats.

“This process is important to making sure we continue to have the best-trained, best-equipped and best military in the world to address the threats that we face in this day and age,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The Bush administration and the Pentagon have pledged economic assistance for communities hard hit by the closures.

The Labor Department will offer job training and the Defense Department has pledged economic assistance to help cities recover from the loss of a base.

Scores of communities – and states – would be affected by the closures and realignments.

Georgia would lose 4,200 jobs with the closure of Fort McPherson, and Maine would lose nearly 7,000 jobs from realignment of Brunswick Naval Air Station and closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and a defense accounting office.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, called the recommendations outrageous “and devastating.”

Other high-profile closure recommendations include the Navy's submarine base in Groton, Conn. – costing nearly 8,500 jobs – and Naval Station Pascagoula, a target in the 1995 round.

Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the closures would have a disproportionate economic impact on Corpus Christi, Northern Virginia and Mississippi.

“I believe the national security analysis that underlies these decisions must be compelling when basing decisions are likely to yield draconian economic consequences in communities that have long supported our military,” Skelton said.

Many of the closure recommendations singled out reserve and National Guard units.

Gen. Steven Blum, director of the National Guard Bureau, said consolidating both Army and Air Guard units would better help governors protect citizenry as well as aid Army and Air Force commanders overseas.

The Pentagon recommended closing seven guard and reserve centers in Texas, including El Paso, Ellington (Houston), Lufkin, Marshall, New Braunfels and two in Dallas.

But members of the independent base closure commission have asked for a legal ruling on the closing of guard units after governors from Illinois and other states vowed a legal challenge to the proposals.

The Pentagon has said it has authority to close facilities and consolidate units, even though many are located on publicly owned lands like airports.

Hearings on the base closure proposals are scheduled next week, with Rumsfeld appearing before the panel on Monday to defend the list.

Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said the panel would not be a “rubber stamp” for the Pentagon, and the hearings would “ensure a voice for the people affected by the DoD's proposals.”

Texas officials will tour Lone Star state communities facing closures this weekend.

San Antonio leaders are expected to attend the hearings this week and have begun plotting strategy to remove Brooks City-Base from the closure list – a task it accomplished in 1995.

“We want to hear the justification,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, whose congressional district includes the South San Antonio base.

The base closure commission has until Sept. 8 to craft a final version of the list and submit it to President Bush, who can either accept or reject the roster in its entirety.

Principi has vowed to hold 15 regional hearings to give communities a chance to make the case for local installations and argue against closure or realignment.

In the four previous closure rounds, the Pentagon closed 97 major installations.

Seven of those bases were located in Texas – Naval Air Station Galveston, Bergstrom AFB in Austin, Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Naval Air Station Dallas, Reese AFB in Lubbock and Kelly AFB in San Antonio.

MySan Antonio.com (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA051305.brac.en.26db453d5.html)

I just don't see what the panic is over this. When they closed Kelly AFB a few years back everyone in the city decryed the huge economic impact that the loss of these moderately paying jobs would have on the West and South Side of SA. However, San Antonio, and the West Side survived, and today Kelly City-Base still has a reasonable economic impact in the city with Boeing and other private companies, without the huge enviromental problems and the damage to the health of those in the surrounding community. Of Course, smaller communities like Corpus Christi will feel the economic pinch my harder.

[Clandestino]

the panic is the millions of dollars pumped into the community every year by the military.

[Mark in Austin]

I'm not advocating against the realignment - most, if not all of it makes sense. I do think it is interesting to note that if it happens, this will devestate many smaller communities where bases are economic engines that power the local ecomony.

The combined savings would be a shade under 50 billion [i]over 20 years[i/]. And yet congress just passed an appropriations bill for 80 billion to fund a couple months in Iraq.

Lots of money to be sure, but it is interesting to see how the two compare.

[spurster]

I wonder if this is a bait-and-switch. Take away a base permanently, but add jobs nearby temporarily.

[Nbadan]

I wonder if this is a bait-and-switch. Take away a base permanently, but add jobs nearby temporarily.

In Texas, the closing of the Red River depot and Ingleside will be especially troublesome for the surrounding communities. San Antonio saw the writing on the wall for Brooks in the last round of BRAC and started coverting the base into a mixed private-public facility - thus the name city-base.

Rummy mentioned that there could be some sort of compensation for communities like Corpus Christi that would be hit particularly hard by this round of BRAC, but with the military stretch monetarily in Iraq and Afghanistan I don't see how that is gonna happen anytime soon.