Posted on 05/14/2005 3:49:08 PM PDT by CHARLITE
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 Pascagoula, Miss.; Fort Monmouth, N.J.; Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.; and Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.
Michael Wynne, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said the closures are part of a military transformation based on the Pentagon's global review of forces.
We are recommending the closure of 33 of the 318 major military installations in the United States, and the realigning of 29 more,? he said. Another 775 smaller military facilities would be closed or changed.
As part of the base reform, the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center would be changed into a national military medical center serving all services and a new hospital would be built at Fort Belvior, Va. Walter Reed's Army staff would move to a facility bearing its name at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
There would be no major closures to 18 military facilities in Maryland and several bases, including Andrews Air Force Base, which would have additional troops deployed. In Virginia, Fort Monroe would be closed and leased facilities shuttered, affecting more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
It is a stretch to call NAS Atlanta a major base. It's not going to have any significant impact on the local economy.
Hey Bill! Portsmouth (the city) is in NH, not Maine!
(Maine stole the shipyard, but the city is still ours...)
I saw that. If many of the other closings are along those lines, that's not much of a big deal.
NAS Atlanta, for those who don't know, is a small adjunct to Dobbins AFB, so losing the navy and marine planes won't make a huge dent.
Won't happen tho -- makes too much sense.
I propose closing the U.N. building for renovations, after shipping its contents overseas. Then, we turn it into THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY FOR CONSERVATIVE STUDIES!
Char:)
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