Is Hill too good to die? (Hill AFB on the chopping block?)

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Imagine losing an entire city in an instant. It could happen here. This city known as Hill Air Force Base is one of roughly 400 military installations awaiting its fate in the upcoming round of base closures.

"We've got everything you could ever need, all right here," said Marilu Trainor, public affairs director at the Ogden Air Logistics Center. "We're just another small town." Hill is just like any other city in America — plus barbed wire fence surrounding its borders and the armed guards as you cross city lines. Grab a bite to eat at the local burger joint, check out a book at the library or cash a check at one of the many credit unions — it's all here at Hill.

Sure, everything might seem normal. But underneath that cool demeanor is a growing fear that everything could be gone in the blink of an eye. That fear is brewing as the latest round of base closures looms. "It better not close," said Brandon Millis, who was recently hired as a machinist at the base. "A lot of people could lose their jobs." Economic devastation Hill Air Force Base is the largest employer in Utah, with nearly 24,000 workers. Losing that alone would be devastating, considering Hill salaries are almost double the average salary in the state, said Rick Mayfield, executive director of the Utah Defense Alliance. Then consider the $2.8 billion impact the base has on the state economy. "It would be a Great Depression for Davis County, Weber County, northern Utah and even for the entire state of Utah," said Wilf Sommerkorn, Davis County's director of community and economic development. "That would be a pretty big hit to the state economy."

A 2004 study by the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research details the potential aftershocks of closing Hill:

• Since the earnings of civilians working at Hill are almost double the state average, it would take almost 68,000 new jobs to offset the loss of $2.35 billion in earnings. Utah has not experienced that rate of job growth since the mid-'90s.

• Utah's per-capita personal income would decrease by $542 statewide and $2,600 in Davis County.

• During the first year of a three-year phased closing of Hill, employment and population in Davis County would decline. The losses would be so large that the county would not return to 2005 employment levels until 2014. "As one of Utah's largest employers, Hill clearly makes a significant contribution to the state and has an even greater impact on those communities in close proximity to the base," the study says. "The loss of Hill AFB translates to lost jobs and income for Utah workers, reduces the number of households that can be supported and permanently changes the structure and size of the Utah economy." Stacking the deck Avoiding that fate is no easy task. One possible strategy is to educate the Pentagon that Hill is the perfect example of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's new vision for the military — a transformed fighting power that works and trains together, said Vickie McCall, executive director of the Utah Defense Alliance.

"The base is better if it has a diversity of missions," said Jim Hansen, the former Utah congressman who has been appointed to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Done. Hill already has a diverse mix of missions, McCall said. It's what people at Hill call the "three-legged stool" — a maintenance depot, the Utah Test and Training Range and two F-16 fighter jet units.

The Ogden Air Logistics Center is one of three huge air logistics centers in the nation. It is responsible for engineering and logistics management of the F-16 fighter and the A-10 "tank killer" aircraft, as well as the Peacekeeper missile. It performs maintenance for the F-16, the A-10 and the giant C-130 cargo plane. The Utah Test and Training Range is an "indispensable asset" to the Defense Department, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said. The range includes 12,574 square miles of airspace, where F-16 pilots can train in air-to-air combat in a geographical match to the places U.S. troops are fighting today — Iraq and Afghanistan. Two F-16 fighter wings support U.S. operations abroad. Pilots from Hill's active-duty 388th Fighter Wing patrol the no-fly zone south of the 33rd parallel in Iraq about six months per year. During Operation Desert Storm, pilots from the 388th dropped more than 2.7 million pounds of conventional munitions in Iraq and Kuwait during almost 4,000 combat sorties without a single combat loss. Reserves from Hill's 419th Fighter Wing provide combat-ready forces capable of worldwide deployment. "We're the best of the best," said John Grubb, 309th Missile Maintenance Group ground system repair section chief. "We need to keep our workloads here."

Another factor in Hill's favor is the base's highly trained, dependable and educated work force, McCall said. The base runs a partnership with local colleges to provide continual education to employees at the base. Personnel problems are at a minimum, and the work gets done with few complaints, she said. In a nutshell, Hill is the best at its game, said Lt. Col. Mike Moore. "Nobody trains to the level of depot proficiency that we do," said Moore, who leads the 649th Combat Logistics Support Squadron in repairing F-16s. "Nobody does it. We deploy anytime, any day. We are on call 24/7 and we will go anywhere in the world, any time." That's just the beginning. Hill has much more room to grow. Hill sits on 6,698 acres of land on the Davis/Weber County line. The base houses more than 1,400 buildings on that land and can easily build more, Mayfield said. With so much room to grow, Hill can easily accommodate Defense Department needs, Huntsman said. "If it's software development that is important, then that is where we want to place our resources," Huntsman said. "If it is the depot component, as the F-16 phases out and the FA-22 phases in for depot work and longer term bringing in a wing of F-35 Joint Task Force Strike Fighters, then we want to make sure we are there to play whatever supporting role we can to make that all a smooth and seamless transition."

Room to grow That ability to grow could be the thing that hurts Hill most in the BRAC process, Mayfield said. Defense Department officials might look at all the excess space at Hill and see it as a waste, he said. "We have a tremendous amount of room to grow, but it is a double-edged sword," Mayfield said. Some of that growth came from a new process base officials are using that cuts down on excess capacity. For instance, at the Ogden Air Logistics Center's F-16 repair line, production chief Wayne Hansen has employed a "lean manufacturing" process that pinpoints inefficiencies in every step of the repair process. Every F-16 in the entire United States mobility will, at some point, be repaired at Wayne Hansen's F-16 repair line, he said. "We get these planes in and out of here and back to the war fighter as fast as possible," Hansen said. "You can't figure out how to do this out of a book. This is strictly depot maintenance." With so much excess capacity, Defense Department and BRAC officials could say "you're not fully utilizing your installation" and move work from Hill to another base and reduce cost, McCall said. But, on the flip side, defense officials could reward Hill for reducing excess capacity by granting the base more workload, she said. No matter how BRAC or Defense Department officials decide to interpret Hill's lean transformation, the base will continue to follow waste-cutting principles. "Our objective is to continue making the operations at Hill lean and mean, continue making ourselves the big fighting machine that we are," said Col. Sharon Dunbar, commander of the 75th Air Base Wing. The golden question Can Hill survive? No one really knows. "It all comes back to the support we get from our community," Dunbar said. "Everyone has to deal with base realignment or closure, all the services — everyone is on the table. The unique aspects of the operations at Hill and the support from the community will continue to bolster Hill Air Force Base." Huntsman is optimistic. He credits a successful partnership with the state to fund new jobs as a plus for Hill in the BRAC process. The Legislature recently approved a $5 million kitty to bring new jobs to the base.

"I think we can certainly stand tall on the advantages we have as a community that play supporting roles for Hill Air Force Base and its long-term viability," Huntsman said. "I think that at the end of the day is where commissioners are going to look very closely and no doubt make a final decision based upon that. As for Jasey Colunga, he'll believe the BRAC rumors when he sees it. The Davis County native just gotten a job at the base and said he plans on keeping it for a long, long time. "When the actual time when you drive up to the gate and they say, 'Sorry, we're closed,' that's when I'll believe it," Colunga said.

We had an Air Force base in our area close a while back.

They tore down the fence and converted the buildings into office buildings, which was what most of them were when it was an Air Force base.

It was a hit to the economy, but other businesses moved in after a while to take advantage of the good real estate, and a well educated work force.

"A 2004 study by the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research details the potential aftershocks of closing Hill:"

I'm sure they came up with the results they were asked to come up with.

"• 31,000 fewer people would live in Utah."

Some would move, others wouldn't. Some businesses in the area would expand due to the availability of an educated workforce, other businesses would be attracted to the area for the same reason.

"• Since the earnings of civilians working at Hill are almost double the state average, it would take almost 68,000 new jobs to offset the loss of $2.35 billion in earnings. Utah has not experienced that rate of job growth since the mid-'90s."

The jobs pay double the average because many of the jobs are for more highly trained workers. Highly trained workers are able to demand higher wages. Unless the workers expertise isn't useful at other jobs in the area, they won't end up working for half their current wage.

There was a time where there were a lot of well paid civil servants on bases that were making considerably more than they could in the private sector. However, most of those jobs were phased out and replaced with contractors over time.

"• Utah's per-capita personal income would decrease by $542 statewide and $2,600 in Davis County. "

If Utah works to attract new businesses, it will be a temporary setback. If the skilled workers are there, and the educational facilities are there, the businesses will follow.

The area has the infrastructure to support higher technology jobs, as long as the economy keeps growing, they should have an exellent oppertunity to attract businesses.

A base closure is a horrible thing to have happen to any community. It's horrible for all the people involved. It's not the end economic prosperity for the area, just a very significant setback.

Base closings are so dramatic and so depressing. I was born at George AFB. Victorville, Ca was a thriving military town, self sufficient, and beautiful. Now that the base is closed, it is a ghost town, riddled with empty office space, vacant restaraunts and a struggling municipal airport that once was George AFB. The same for Norton AFB. San Bernardino was a thriving town until the base closed. The only thing San Bernardino has going for it, is the Municipal Airport, and its Farm League baseball team.
I hope that if Hill does close, there are many people in place in the City that are equipped to deal with redevelopement immediately, instead of watching the rapid decline in population and work force.

Most threats of a base closure are just that, political pawns, reindeer games that congress critters play.....but know this . I have seen a few during my life. One in Amarillo Texas that pretty much destroyed that cities economy for decades. And the other in the UP of Michigan when Kincheloe AFB closed near Sault St Marie . Same local results. Kincheloe had just had new facilities built, new BX, runways expanded, new hangers, barracks, base housing etc and they closed that puppy on a Tuesday !

So when ya think "your" local DOD installation is too important or could never be closed , replaced etc .....think again. Most of the "costs" imposed on bases and DOD sites these days are EPA driven IMO. It's cheaper to walk away and seal off structures filled with asbestos and build new than to try and remodel under the EPA regime.

I've been TDY to Hill many times, walked every square foot of the Eagle and Wendover Ranges and assisted Army at Dugway and Tooele(sp?) ranges during my EOD career. Massive military presence near the great Salt Lake. Hill could very well be the sacrifical lamb..........Maybe ya'll can "Hatch" a new plan to keep it !

The only reason that the Air Force Depots like Hill are concerned is that Wright-Patterson AFB which is the headquarters for the depots pulled 3400 money which is Operations and Maintenance (O&M) for the depots back to the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) for them to control the money. It is under investigation by some Congressmen because O&M money cannot be used by ASC which is research and development but they were getting low on work and resources so they went after depot money to save their high powered positions. Not to mention they are in the process of pulling some positions from the depots.

The most obvious weapon system that they pulled funds for to get the "expertise" of ASC was the B-52. That weapon system has been controlled by Tinker AFB for its entire life and there is NO expertise at Wright-Patterson for the B-52 -- it is all here at Tinker AFB. Then they awarded a contract to The University of Dayton who has even less expertise.

Power play by Gen Martin and his folks could cost some bases like Hill. You realize we have to pay those high graded civilians at ASC and keep their jobs versus keeping jobs in the field at lower ranks. (sarcasm)

BTW, been at the depots (2) and at HQ AFMC and know exactly what is going on from briefings a source has been forwarding. AFMC is creating a bloated, overpaid bureaucracy at Wright-Patterson but that is nothing new. When I worked there, they took a manpower cut one time, formed an illegal 3030 Support Squadron and protected all the positions. Give a manpower cut to Wright-Patt and they will grow every time.

Bottom line -- General Martin and his cronies could care less about the depots that are the lifeline of the Air Force to keep the planes flying. Air Combat Command is sending dollars direct to the depots now for some of their work requests bypassing AFMC so they (ASC) cannot get their hands on the funds or at least they haven't figured out a way. Right now some Congressmen are investigating the pulling of 3400 money.

When Darlene Druyon (sp) went to prison for giving sole source to Boeing and then taking a position at Boeing, then the entire Air Force structure contract award structure should have been investigated starting with AFMC and particular ASC. Been an organization for years that has been on the edge of crossing the line on contracts and in some instances has crossed the line.

IMHO Rumsfeld and his review missed the whole picture in the Air Force! AFMC from top to bottom including depots and centers need a thorough review for their contracting practices but it will never happen. BTW, been on both sides -- civil service and contractor along with others I know and we all have the same opinion. Bad for taxpayers to pay a GS-14/15 to do work a GS-12/13 was doing at the depots. Check out a pay scale and see the difference.

Bottom line is that AFMC is leaving its depots vulnerable but the real bottom line might be the privatization that some in top management have been pushing -- then they can get their fat cat jobs with contractors when they retire. DoD needs to reinstitute the law about waiting two years to work for a Defense Contractor for higher level people.

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