Union-Tribune
Marine recruits are tested at San Diego's Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which is spared the ax by the base realignment and closure commission. The Navy's Broadway headquarters complex is considered for closure.
Posted on 07/19/2005 3:36:16 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – The base-closing commission voted Tuesday to add two military facilities, in California and Maine, to the list of hundreds of domestic bases that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has proposed closing and shrinking.
The Navy Broadway Complex in San Diego and the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, were added to the list of facilities to be closed. The commission also was voting on whether to add bases in nine other states and Washington, D.C.
In a reprieve for California, the commission voted against putting the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on the closure list even though several commissioners had wanted to consider merging it with the service's other recruiting facility in Parris Island, S.C.
The vote by the nine member commission was 6-2, with one recusal. Seven votes would have been needed to add the base to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's proposed closure list.
The Marine depot trains 20,000 recruits a year and employs 1,700 service members as well as 900 civilians. Rumsfeld did not propose it for closure, but the independent commission reviewing his list discussed shuttering the base and consolidating its functions with the Corps' other training depot, at Parris Island, S.C.
On Tuesday the panel rejected that idea, saying the Corps had persuaded them it needs two recruit depots in order to handle its large expeditionary force.
"I really think Marines are the first line of defense. If anything happens it's those guys, and I think it's imperative they have these two training centers," said commission member James Hansen.
The San Diego facility has headquarters for Navy operations in the Southwest, while the Brunswick air base is the last active-duty Defense Department airfield in New England and one of Maine's largest employers, with nearly 4,900 military and civilian workers.
Before voting on additions, Chairman Anthony Principi cautioned that adding a base to the list "does not necessarily mean that the base will be realigned or closed" but will simply allow the panel to further analyze those bases' usefulness.
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"Our deliberations today may add more bases for further consideration, not because we have determined that we need to close more bases than the secretary of defense has recommended, but because we want to make sure the best possible closure or realignment choices are made," Principi said.
The Naval Shipyard at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii also was saved, although by a slim margin. The vote was five in favor of adding it to the list and four against adding it. However, seven commissioners had to vote in the affirmative for it to be added.
Overall, the panel was expected to cast about a dozen votes Tuesday on whether to increase the number of facilities that may be closed or compressed in size.
The votes show the independent commission's willingness to diverge from the plan Rumsfeld submitted in May, when he proposed closing or reducing forces at 62 major domestic bases and hundreds of smaller installations from coast to coast.
The panel's actions were sure to ignite a new round of lobbying by communities whose military facilities were being target for possible closure or shrinkage.
The commission was slated to vote on whether to add to list for possible closure: Moody Air Force Base in Georgia; the Naval Master Jet Base Oceana in Virginia; and the Galena Airport Forward Operating Location in Alaska.
They also were voting on whether to consider shutting down, rather than simply scaling back forces as the Pentagon proposed, at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, and Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. The Brunswick, Maine, Naval Air Station had been slated for downsizing but it now will be considered for closure, given the commission's vote.
Final decisions about the fate of bases on the list – including any added Tuesday – won't be made until next month.
The nine-member commission must send its list with any necessary revisions to the president in September.
Rumsfeld has proposed a sweeping restructuring that would close or reduce forces at 62 major domestic bases and hundreds of smaller installations. The first such effort in a decade, the reorganization is meant to save money and streamline operations of the four service branches.
At this stage, adding bases to the Pentagon's proposed list of closures or consolidations will allow the commission to conduct public hearings, visit those sites and collect data, in some situations to make direct comparisons with bases that perform similar missions and are slated for closure.
The commission also was to vote whether to consider merging the defense accounting services from three locations and the professional development education services from three locations. It also was voting to consider whether to create a joint medical command headquarters by merging operations at four facilities.
It takes votes from seven of nine commission members to add a base to the list. The commission then will have to reaffirm each decision in August, with seven of nine votes. Other bases on the Pentagon's list can be removed then with five of nine votes.
Commissioners also have expressed serious reservations with the Pentagon's plan to disband or move dozens of Air National Guard units. However, that issue was not slated to be voted on Tuesday and commissioners were working behind the scenes to determine what to do with that part of the proposal.
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On the Net: Base Closure and Realignment Commission: www.brac.gov
Thanks for the update.
That's prime real estate, baby! Some real estate developer is gonna make a killing after this property converts to private use.
Glad to see MCRD San Diego was spared. Idiot base-closure commission members were stupid to even consider it. Many or most Marines come from middle class families. Many Marine families from the western United States would simply not be able to afford to travel to Parris Island to attend Marine graduation--a very important event in the life of the Marine. When we went to MCRD San Diego for my son's graduation, I cannot tell you number of Marines who parents and families could not attend because they were from the midwest, west of the Mississippi River. While there were no crybabies, my wife spent some time hugging new Marines whose moms were not there. Same when our son came home from Iraq. We live in Phoenix, so we were able to attend the homecoming at Camp Pendleton. Lot of moms weren't there. My wife hugged a lot of the Marines to stand in for them. Lot of other moms were doing the same thing.
Idiot base-closing commissions.
(I have not served. My tagline honors my son and my cousin.)
I heard this on the radio this morning about Pope. How can they possibly close Pope? How would they train and deploy the 82nd if they did? Makes no sense to me. But if someone can explain, I'll listen.
Well, I have to make it to June or July of next year to qualify for my early retirement so I hope the normal Government inertia kicks in and it takes a while to implement this BRAC crap if Galena is added to the list.
They can't explain the reasons. There are a pantload of German bases/posts/OLs/detachments that could be closed before closing one US base.
Happy to see MCRD was spared. I "booted" there in 1952.
I'll always remember.
They could re-open Shemya AB for you....
Shemya AB has never been closed - just realigned. Mostly a Navy thing, now.
Our company has the maintenance contract out there as well. But I've been out there (spent a year there one month ;-) and didn't like it much.
It's hard to fathom that they're closing Brunswick. Surprised to hear Oceana mentioned, too.
Mike
Pope was not going to Close; it was going to be re-aligned and put under the Command of the CG at Fort Bragg.
Here's the link for the state by state list:
http://www.dod.mil/brac/pdf/Appendix_C_FinalUpdated.pdf
Does this affect anyone we know??
In PA, we're still fighting to retain the 9-11 Reserve base in Moon Township, Pittsburgh PA. Lots of reservists ship overseas from there. The commission made a major error in its calculations when it said there was no room for expansion. There's plenty of room for expansion from land that can be purchased from the adjoining airport. This argument just may say this base.
That's prime real estate, baby! Some real estate developer is gonna make a killing after this property converts to private use.What do you want to bet it's contaminated and first has to be cleaned up?
Marine recruits are tested at San Diego's Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which is spared the ax by the base realignment and closure commission. The Navy's Broadway headquarters complex is considered for closure.
I've been on the property before. It's hardly a military base. It covers approximately two blocks in downtown San Diego. Also, it's mainly administrative offices. Furthermore, it's only two blocks from other commercial high rises and one block from luxury condos. So I doubt there's anything contaminated there.
You're right, it does sound like choice real estate...
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