TheWriter
01-03-2006, 03:31 PM
More jobs, cash coming to Fort Sam
Web Posted: 01/03/2006 12:00 AM CST
Sig Christenson
Express-News Military Writer
Fort Sam Houston is moving to become America's hub for joint enlisted medical training and will get new troops as the Army transforms — actions expected to bring 13,575 workers and students, 5,000 families and $2 billion in new construction.
The post soon will launch a $250,000 environmental impact study, a federal prerequisite for Fort Sam's dramatic expansion, and is preparing to accept the first of 5,000 military students from installations around the country.
Groundbreaking won't begin for another year, but Fort Sam will raze or revamp at least 46 buildings, one for the Directed-Energy Lab now at Brooks City-Base. The lab concept mirrors that base's goal of mixing and matching private and military research, but former Mayor Howard Peak said it faces hurdles — including funding and access to Fort Sam, once open to the public but closed since 2001.
"I think there's great potential for it," Peak said. "But it depends on what other activities and what other terms and conditions the Army will want. It was a little different at Brooks. We had a wide-open facility as a result of Brooks Development Authority taking over. It was no longer an Air Force base."
The 2005 base closure round is over, and with it the dread that communities across the nation were forced to endure for the fifth time since 1988. But the clock is ticking, and Fort Sam is mapping plans to accept realigned missions within the closure round's six-year window.
Brooks was among 21 installations ordered to close by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. And as part of the closure round, Wilford Hall Medical Center will become a clinic, costing the city one of its three Level 1 trauma centers.
Brooke Army Medical Center, which is to absorb 1,940 staffers from Wilford Hall's 59th Medical Wing, is one of the jewels in Fort Sam's new crown.
When the expansion process ends in 2012, the 3,010-acre post will have more concrete, less green space and a new service-neutral name for its hospital that may require an Army surgeon general's warning for anguished soldiers.
BAMC could become San Antonio Regional Medical Center North — SARMC. Wilford Hall would be San Antonio Regional Medical Center South.
Fort Sam's commander, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, conceded that the matter "will be an emotional issue" but said the hospitals might get other names and that he sees more opportunities than problems in the transition.
"I think the benefits for us are, we hope we will build synergy between different research facilities there, both amongst themselves and areas that can benefit the military in medical research," he explained.
"The challenges, of course, are, what do we have to offer to attract them there? And part of it is, we have a big medical center where we're already doing a fair amount of medical research, we've got a great location right off of I-35 and we've got ties in with other research facilities."
Fort Sam's most complex BRAC-related initiative will be creating the new Defense Department's Joint Enlisted Training Center. Perfect timing will be needed as the post expands its academic campus and builds dorms and support facilities while assembling a joint staff, writing a tri-service curriculum and doubling its student base.
Eight Army headquarters will move here as a result of BRAC.
Some, such as the Installation Management Agency in Crystal City, Va., have a deep reach. Other, more obscure outfits, one of them the Army Environmental Center, are expected to bolster the area economy because they're likely to bring new business to town.
"The environmental center is like the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence," said Mark Frye, 2006 chairman of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce's military affairs committee, referring to a site at Brooks City-Base. "Many of the businesses that do business with AFCEE have local offices."
Thanks to the realignment of smaller units not initially listed by BRAC, growth at Fort Sam will be greater than what was expected last summer, when the figures were 9,228 new employees for its 26,289-strong work force. Most of the surge will come from BRAC, but Army transformation efforts will also push expansion.
Now at Fort Sam's Quadrangle, the growing 5th U.S. Army will put some of its operations into temporary buildings but will later move into renovated structures — one of them likely the now-vacant 1930s-era South Beach Pavilion, a 124,000-square-foot building.
Fifth Army has managed National Guard and Reserve component training, readiness and mobilization, but soon will focus on homeland defense as part of the U.S. Northern Command.
The U.S. 1st Army, now at Fort McPherson, Ga., will take over 5th Army's old role by Oct. 1.
U.S. Army South, now in the old BAMC and responsible for military missions in 32 South and Central American nations, will be re-designated the 6th U.S. Army by fall. And Fort Sam's 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, which supports 6th Army, will get up to 700 new employees.
Many of the most visible changes at Fort Sam are driven by BRAC, with perhaps the most ambitious part of its expansion being the Directed-Energy Lab. It will move to a 240,000-square-foot building to be constructed on the post's Pershing Range, a 300-plus-acre field used for target practice until 1990.
Once cleanup work is done, it could be the vortex for a medical research park. Fort Sam commander Weightman outlined the idea during a Dec. 7 meeting of the BRAC Steering Committee, a group of city, Bexar County and chamber of commerce leaders. Some at the meeting say he got strong support, but warn it won't be easy or cheap to bring the concept to fruition.
"What sounds good is, it solidifies San Antonio as the center for military medicine in the United States," said City Councilman Richard Perez. "The difficult piece of the plan is coming up with the infrastructure dollars to make that concept a reality."
Perez, chairman of the council's Military Affairs Committee, said a new exit off Interstate 35 would be needed for the research park.
Some infrastructure projects are on tap, including a resurfacing on Walters Street from I-35 to the post. It will include sidewalks under a $4 million state-funded project. Other road and drainage projects on the drawing boards will cost tens of millions of dollars and require federal, state and local funding, he said.
Fort Sam, meantime, wants to expand existing academic links with the University of Texas Health Science Center, the University of Nebraska and Baylor University. Weightman envisions new alliances with UTSA and schools such as those in the Alamo Community College District.
Peak's experience with Brooks City-Base leads him to think it will be a long-term effort. Weightman is more optimistic.
"I think it's very much our intent to make it a long-term arrangement, but if you're asking, do I think it will take five or six years to develop, the answer is no. I think there's things we can do in the next one or two years that will greatly expand our cooperation between our various academic organizations."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA010306.1B.fortsam.d2c7a9b.html
Web Posted: 01/03/2006 12:00 AM CST
Sig Christenson
Express-News Military Writer
Fort Sam Houston is moving to become America's hub for joint enlisted medical training and will get new troops as the Army transforms — actions expected to bring 13,575 workers and students, 5,000 families and $2 billion in new construction.
The post soon will launch a $250,000 environmental impact study, a federal prerequisite for Fort Sam's dramatic expansion, and is preparing to accept the first of 5,000 military students from installations around the country.
Groundbreaking won't begin for another year, but Fort Sam will raze or revamp at least 46 buildings, one for the Directed-Energy Lab now at Brooks City-Base. The lab concept mirrors that base's goal of mixing and matching private and military research, but former Mayor Howard Peak said it faces hurdles — including funding and access to Fort Sam, once open to the public but closed since 2001.
"I think there's great potential for it," Peak said. "But it depends on what other activities and what other terms and conditions the Army will want. It was a little different at Brooks. We had a wide-open facility as a result of Brooks Development Authority taking over. It was no longer an Air Force base."
The 2005 base closure round is over, and with it the dread that communities across the nation were forced to endure for the fifth time since 1988. But the clock is ticking, and Fort Sam is mapping plans to accept realigned missions within the closure round's six-year window.
Brooks was among 21 installations ordered to close by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. And as part of the closure round, Wilford Hall Medical Center will become a clinic, costing the city one of its three Level 1 trauma centers.
Brooke Army Medical Center, which is to absorb 1,940 staffers from Wilford Hall's 59th Medical Wing, is one of the jewels in Fort Sam's new crown.
When the expansion process ends in 2012, the 3,010-acre post will have more concrete, less green space and a new service-neutral name for its hospital that may require an Army surgeon general's warning for anguished soldiers.
BAMC could become San Antonio Regional Medical Center North — SARMC. Wilford Hall would be San Antonio Regional Medical Center South.
Fort Sam's commander, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, conceded that the matter "will be an emotional issue" but said the hospitals might get other names and that he sees more opportunities than problems in the transition.
"I think the benefits for us are, we hope we will build synergy between different research facilities there, both amongst themselves and areas that can benefit the military in medical research," he explained.
"The challenges, of course, are, what do we have to offer to attract them there? And part of it is, we have a big medical center where we're already doing a fair amount of medical research, we've got a great location right off of I-35 and we've got ties in with other research facilities."
Fort Sam's most complex BRAC-related initiative will be creating the new Defense Department's Joint Enlisted Training Center. Perfect timing will be needed as the post expands its academic campus and builds dorms and support facilities while assembling a joint staff, writing a tri-service curriculum and doubling its student base.
Eight Army headquarters will move here as a result of BRAC.
Some, such as the Installation Management Agency in Crystal City, Va., have a deep reach. Other, more obscure outfits, one of them the Army Environmental Center, are expected to bolster the area economy because they're likely to bring new business to town.
"The environmental center is like the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence," said Mark Frye, 2006 chairman of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce's military affairs committee, referring to a site at Brooks City-Base. "Many of the businesses that do business with AFCEE have local offices."
Thanks to the realignment of smaller units not initially listed by BRAC, growth at Fort Sam will be greater than what was expected last summer, when the figures were 9,228 new employees for its 26,289-strong work force. Most of the surge will come from BRAC, but Army transformation efforts will also push expansion.
Now at Fort Sam's Quadrangle, the growing 5th U.S. Army will put some of its operations into temporary buildings but will later move into renovated structures — one of them likely the now-vacant 1930s-era South Beach Pavilion, a 124,000-square-foot building.
Fifth Army has managed National Guard and Reserve component training, readiness and mobilization, but soon will focus on homeland defense as part of the U.S. Northern Command.
The U.S. 1st Army, now at Fort McPherson, Ga., will take over 5th Army's old role by Oct. 1.
U.S. Army South, now in the old BAMC and responsible for military missions in 32 South and Central American nations, will be re-designated the 6th U.S. Army by fall. And Fort Sam's 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, which supports 6th Army, will get up to 700 new employees.
Many of the most visible changes at Fort Sam are driven by BRAC, with perhaps the most ambitious part of its expansion being the Directed-Energy Lab. It will move to a 240,000-square-foot building to be constructed on the post's Pershing Range, a 300-plus-acre field used for target practice until 1990.
Once cleanup work is done, it could be the vortex for a medical research park. Fort Sam commander Weightman outlined the idea during a Dec. 7 meeting of the BRAC Steering Committee, a group of city, Bexar County and chamber of commerce leaders. Some at the meeting say he got strong support, but warn it won't be easy or cheap to bring the concept to fruition.
"What sounds good is, it solidifies San Antonio as the center for military medicine in the United States," said City Councilman Richard Perez. "The difficult piece of the plan is coming up with the infrastructure dollars to make that concept a reality."
Perez, chairman of the council's Military Affairs Committee, said a new exit off Interstate 35 would be needed for the research park.
Some infrastructure projects are on tap, including a resurfacing on Walters Street from I-35 to the post. It will include sidewalks under a $4 million state-funded project. Other road and drainage projects on the drawing boards will cost tens of millions of dollars and require federal, state and local funding, he said.
Fort Sam, meantime, wants to expand existing academic links with the University of Texas Health Science Center, the University of Nebraska and Baylor University. Weightman envisions new alliances with UTSA and schools such as those in the Alamo Community College District.
Peak's experience with Brooks City-Base leads him to think it will be a long-term effort. Weightman is more optimistic.
"I think it's very much our intent to make it a long-term arrangement, but if you're asking, do I think it will take five or six years to develop, the answer is no. I think there's things we can do in the next one or two years that will greatly expand our cooperation between our various academic organizations."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA010306.1B.fortsam.d2c7a9b.html