RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,163129,00.html

They are turning it into an Army airfield???

So what? If our government can see fit to spend untold billions on illegals and billions more in foreign aid, the price for our military should not be questioned...

While I think that the Military should get what it needs, I aslo believe it should ask for what it needs not what it wants. For example, the article says that ground breaking will begin for a new 292 million dollar headquarters building in August. Are you telling me that the units that are currently at Bragg don't have headquarters buildings?

Here we go again--the results of yet another BRAC shuffle. It saves little $ but disrupts countless lives, including the retirees who retired in an area, expecting that the local military hospital would be there for a long time. They were fooled.

quote:

Originally posted by SABOT7:
While I think that the Military should get what it needs, I aslo believe it should ask for what it needs not what it wants. For example, the article says that ground breaking will begin for a new 292 million dollar headquarters building in August. Are you telling me that the units that are currently at Bragg don't have headquarters buildings?

As the article stated, there is a huge 4 Star and another large 3 Star command moving in to the area. Both of those commands have large staffs that service the nation and not just the local area. So, NO the local commands do not have the facilities for these new commands

A lot of the BRAC decisions have been nonsense!
Case in point, they closed NAS Cecil Field in Florida. Cecil just happened to have the Navy's longest runways on the east coast and they were still in a relatively isolated area. So what did they keep open? NAS Oceana Virginia, over crowded and in the middle of built up areas. They had to build new facilities to handle the forces from Cecil. NOW, BRAC admits it was a mistake and they[the Navy] want to reopen Cecil and they can't! Does BRAC EVER think before they act? This sounds just like another "BRAC SOUP SANDWICH"!
Respectfully, SUNLINER81

Pope AFB is facilities are being taken over by the Army, some Air Force capabilities being relocated but the base will remain the APOE for the Fort Bragg units and a training facility for Air Force Reserve units. This implies there will be a strong AF cadre there for both training and airlift, but they will no longer be the largest tenant on base. By consolidating the bases they will be able to make some reductions in facilities management and ‘base’ overhead.

quote:

The 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Act mandated that Army Forces Command, a four-star headquarters, and Army Reserve Command, a three-star headquarters, move to Fort Bragg from Atlanta by September 2011.

That is a significant plus up and raises the visibility of the post.

In addition they are looking to add an Infantry Brigade Combat Team to what is already there.

Nobody ever said that BRAC had to make sense, it was just 'suppose' to be non-political. [i]Right[/]

Still, every state has its own BRAC committee to 'lobby' to keep their bases open and why they should get more from other states.

Having been following BRAC decisions for a while, some places lost ‘ideal’ bases because:
- They felt secure and there fore did not lobby to keep their base
- They started placing restriction on the use of air and ground space around the base
- They ignored base request to not encroach on the area around the base that the military felt was necessary for safety, security, operational requirements
- When issues came up they did not work with the base to resolve those issues
- They did not have representation in Congress that was viewed as ‘supportive’ of the Military

A lot of the BRAC decisions are not sensible. Then on top of that you add Military Reorganization, Expansion, and the returning of forces from Germany. They are delaying units returning from Germany due to the facilities being built for them being used to speed up activating new units.

I look at what is happening right here at Fort Bliss:
- The Air Defense Center and School moving to Fort Sill to combine with the Artillery Center and School, making the ‘new’ Fires Center and School.
- 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1 Armor Division is here
- Standing up the FCS Evaluation Brigade Combat Team
- (2) BCTs from Germany (delayed)
- (3) BCTs standing up
- 1st Armor Division Headquarters
- Another Division Headquarters is a distinct possibility
- (1) Aviation Brigade scheduled to move here
- There is discussion on moving 3rd ACR from Fort Carson (more maneuver space), don’t know if it will happen.
- When you look at the forces above, it would make sense to include the rest of the division troops and
- If you get all of the above, it would make sense to add a Corps Headquarters

When you look at Fort Bliss, McGregor Range, and White Sands Missile Range you have 26% of the Army Land in the Continental United States. In the middle of all that you have Holloman AFB, which hosts both American and German Air Force training areas (Military Controlled Airspace).

And to add to the mix, if you are going to conduct Live Fire of Air and Missile Defense units, they will have to come back from Fort Sill to McGregor Range/WSMR. And if you do full range Fires (Artillery) they have to come off of Fort Sill as well.

BRAC has been a waste of money and put countless people out of work and to me it's been a bad thing it's cut our military all over the US at a time when we need those bases that are closed not to mention the aircraft carriers, battleships, airwings, pilots, sailors, soldiers, marines.. etc etc that keep our military up until Clinton took office we had the manpower and the means to fight wars all over the world now we can't even put the right equipment to the ones who need it and the only people making the money are the CEO and uppermanagement of companies doing business with the military let alone all the crooked politician we keep electing over and over again new laws need to be put in place to get some of these old geezers who have been in congress for dozens of years they need to put a limit on senators and reps like they do with a president 2 terms and your done until the next election comes about.

quote:

Originally posted by SUNLINER81:
A lot of the BRAC decisions have been nonsense!
Case in point, they closed NAS Cecil Field in Florida. Cecil just happened to have the Navy's longest runways on the east coast and they were still in a relatively isolated area. So what did they keep open? NAS Oceana Virginia, over crowded and in the middle of built up areas. They had to build new facilities to handle the forces from Cecil. NOW, BRAC admits it was a mistake and they[the Navy] want to reopen Cecil and they can't! Does BRAC EVER think before they act? This sounds just like another "BRAC SOUP SANDWICH"!
Respectfully, SUNLINER81

Good to see ya again Sunliner.
They tried the same thing at Hawthorne, NV. Depot this BRAC. I watched CSPAN when they had the hearins on Hawthorne the Chairman asked two questions:
-Where did Hawthorne rank in storage space?
-Where did Hawthorne rank in Demil storage space?

The answer were 1 and 2 respectively. The Chairman asked if anybody had read this before he got it. Hawthorne was removed from the BRAC list.