Free Republic

U.S. Air Force pilots are flying planes so old that some were built during the Eisenhower administration, and still Congress is delaying new appropriations to modernize America's aging fighters, bombers and other military aircraft. The average age of today's Air Force fleet is 24 years. Big B-52 bombers, which played a critical role in America's recent efforts to liberate Iraq and stabilize Afghanistan, are over 45 years old. Worse, many of these bombers rely on KC-135 aerial refueling tankers that are equally as old. Add to the mix, the U.S. military critically depends on C-130 cargo planes for rapid deployment....

WASHINGTON and BRUNSWICK, Maine — Almost as far back as Don Russell can recall, planes from the nearby naval air station have roared overhead, an audible assurance of security, especially since the Sept. 11 attacks. <-- SNIP --> Some wonder whether the military, by leaving so many places where it has long been a part of the community, is setting itself up to become too remote from the very people it is charged with protecting. This changes the calculus on everything from defense budgets to recruiting and retention.

For those who may not know her, we have a long-time FREEPER who has at last returned to us after a long and arduous recovery from some difficult health problems. When she was previously active, many of us valued her wit and ideas. Her handle is YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS. WELCOME BACK, ROSE!!! Rosie has come up with an idea on how to handle the illegal alien problem and has asked that I post her idea for her. I can take no credit at all for it; it is purely her idea! YELLOW ROSE'S IDEA Instead of closing the military...

The federal government is doing something right now that is exactly the opposite of what it should be doing. It is forgetting to think dark. It is forgetting to imagine the unimaginable. Governments deal in data. People in government see a collection of data as something to be used, manipulated or ignored, but whatever they do with it, it's real. It's numbers on a page. You can point to them. To think dark, on the other hand, takes imagination--and something more. As adults living in the world, we know some things. As Murphy taught us, if it can go wrong,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Overruling the Pentagon on two of its biggest requests, a commission reviewing base closings voted to keep open a shipyard and a submarine base in New England that military planners wanted to shut down. The panel also spared the Red River Army Depot in Texas against Pentagon wishes. The commission voted to save the Portsmouth shipyard at Kittery, Maine, and Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, two economic engines of their region and the subjects of intense lobbying to save them. In another reversal, the commission decided to close Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine, rather than...

Workers, politicians rally in Kittery KITTERY - Workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will not quietly let their shipyard be closed. Hundreds of defiant employees rallied Monday at the gates of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, three days after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced plans to close the historic base. The shipworkers waved signs, led chants and cheered politicians who vowed to challenge the Pentagon's decision. "There isn't a single worker in this shipyard who's giving up the fight," said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine. "And there isn't a single member of this delegation who's giving the fight." Allen was joined on...

The Pentagon yesterday announced plans to close 33 major military bases and realign 29 others in a force restructuring designed to consolidate forces and save money -- at least $49 billion over 20 years. 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, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in releasing the base closure list. Major proposed closures include the Navy submarine base at New London, Conn.; Fort McPherson, Ga.; Naval Air Station Atlanta, Ga.; Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Maine; Naval Air Station at...

For area residents, who remember that two F-15s from Otis scrambled for New York on Sept. 11, 2001, yesterday's news was devastating. ''I think it's a disgrace, especially after 9/11," said Sullivan. ''They're protection for Massachusetts, if something happens." For locals, though, the base remains a key part of Cape history. It's the place where John F. Kennedy used to fly into en route to his family's compound. More recently, Otis's quick response on Sept. 11 is a point of pride. ''The air guard, of course, defends the Northeast corridor of the US, and they're all excellent citizens," said LaFarge,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush, brushing aside a stall tactic by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., appointed the nine-member commission that will determine military bases closings without waiting for Senate confirmation. Bush made the appointments while the Senate was in recess, the White House announced Friday night. The recess appointments prevent delays as the commission prepares to make the first round of base closings in a decade. Before it left for its spring recess the full Senate had been expected to vote on the nomination of Anthony J. Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs, as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2005 - President Bush nominated eight people March 15 to serve on 2005’s Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Their names go to Capitol Hill for Senate confirmation. The nominees are: Former Nevada Rep. James H. Bilbray, who was a member of committees on foreign affairs, armed services and intelligence. He served in the Army Reserve from 1955 to 1963. Philip Coyle of California, a senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information. He has served at DoD as an assistant secretary of defense and as director of operational test and evaluation. Retired Navy Adm. Harold W....

WASHINGTON - Gov. Arnold "The Collectinator" Schwarzenegger is to swoop into Washington on Thursday, with state legislative leaders in tow, for an unprecedented meeting with the California congressional delegation and Bush administration officials in hopes of steering more federal money to the state. Schwarzenegger pledged after his recall election victory to be the "collectinator," a play on his starring role in the "Terminator" movies. So far, there hasn't been a lot to show for it, but that could change dramatically on this trip. State and federal officials are working to put the final details together on a five-year deal that...

The Pentagon is piecing together its most radical base-realignment plans ever, impacting life on a quarter of all of its military bases and depots around the United States. Expect closings that will be far more sweeping than previous rounds. Auditors claim the Pentagon would save $7 billion a year from those closings, and the Pentagon this year is under orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to reconfigure its forces to better fight the war on terrorism. Translation: Expensive bases built to fight the Cold War are no longer needed. Topping the hit list: Military depots and small National Guard and...

WASHINGTON — Congressionally mandated plans to close unneeded military facilities have emerged as an election-year issue, especially in states where installations are vulnerable to the budget ax. Among those calling for reconsideration of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round is Sen. John Kerry, the presumed Democratic Party presidential nominee, who voted in 2001 for the cuts. The Bush administration supports the reductions, which are projected to save the government billions of dollars. But Kerry and other lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, say the process has been overtaken by the war in Iraq and America's...

Tobyhanna Depot to hire 350 as closures eyed By RENITA FENNICK renitaf@leader.net As the Pentagon continues working on a plan to close some military bases by the end of next year, Tobyhanna Army Depot is looking to hire 350 people. The Monroe County facility, which employs about 3,300, will conduct job fairs Thursday in Scranton and Tannersville. The depot needs to fill the permanent positions over the next few months to meet increasing workload requirements and projected attrition rates. Last week, the U.S. Department of Defense released its final criteria for selecting the bases to be closed. Though the Base...

Pentagon exec, Kennedy to tour Hanscom base By Jon Chesto Saturday, February 7, 2004 Massachusetts' senior U.S. senator plans to bring a top Pentagon official on a tour of Hanscom Air Force Base next week as the campaign to save the Bedford military base intensifies. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, told business leaders yesterday at a Sun Microsystems office in Burlington that Defense Undersecretary Michael Wynne will visit next Friday as Pentagon leaders look to close bases starting next year. Bay State politicians are trying to convince Pentagon officials that high-tech expertise and proximity to research institutions should be...

Perry, Hutchison at odds over Pentagon's base-closure guidelines SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Two of the state's highest-ranking Republicans are at odds over Pentagon draft guidelines for next year's round of military base closures. A day after Gov. Rick Perry embraced the guidelines in an announcement near Fort Hood, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison sent a letter to the Pentagon rejecting them and asking for changes she thinks will help Texas bases stay open, the San Antonio Express-News reported Saturday. Lawrence Korb, assistant defense secretary during the Reagan administration, said the conflicting messages could create friction between the leaders. "Since there's...