Posts Tagged ‘mission support/community partnerships’

The possibility that the Army’s drawdown of 72,000 troops by fiscal year 2020 could result in the loss of Fort Benning’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team is a point of concern as well as frustration for officials in Columbus, Ga. An Army decision to inactivate the post’s brigade would result in the loss of 7,074 soldiers and civilian employees, and 10,741 family members, according to the Programmatic Environmental Assessment for Army 2020 Force Structure Realignment released last month. The Chattahoochee Valley region could lose up to 9,000 jobs …

Marine Corps representatives last week briefed commissioners and planners from Pamlico County, located on the coast of North Carolina, about the possible ways a wind farm could interfere with flight operations at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The representatives from Marine Corps Installations East told the county officials that tall wind turbines present a threat of collision to low-flying aircraft and can hamper the use of radar …

U.S. Africa Command headquarters will remain in Stuttgart, the Defense Department announced last week, after determining that the advantages of being located in Germany outweigh the added costs. “The secretary, informed by the judgment of the AFRICOM commander and a study of locations, decided the current location serves the operational needs of AFRICOM better than a location in the continental United States,” said DOD spokeswoman Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins …

The Air Force would be forced to postpone the start of 22 new military construction projects if automatic defense cuts are imposed beginning March 1, according to an Air Force presentation to Congress. Sequestration would affect smaller projects as well, requiring the service to defer work on more than 420 non-emergency facilities sustainment and restoration/modernization projects at more than 140 installations …

Lawmakers in eastern North Carolina are considering an ordinance regulating structures higher than 350 feet as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the flying mission at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The ordinance would require structures such as wind turbines, cell towers and buildings to obtain a permit from Craven County. The move comes as neighboring Pamlico County is addressing concerns of the Marine Corps about a proposed wind farm …

Operating under a continuing resolution through Sept. 30 and coping with across-the-board spending reductions slated to go into effect March 1 would “distress and shock” Army installations and their host communities, according to an Army memo outlining the impacts of addressing an $18 billion shortfall in its operation and maintenance account over the remainder of fiscal 2013. The economic impact to communities would be directly caused by terminations of temporary and term employees, wide-scale reduction of support contracts with more than 3,000 industry partners, and furloughs of all 251,000 Army civilian employees for up to 22 days, according to the memo …

For the second year in a row the Pentagon will ask Congress for a new round of base closures, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters Wednesday during a preview of the department’s fiscal 2014 budget request. The announcement came as no surprise after Congress roundly rejected the administration’s proposal last year to hold BRAC rounds in 2013 and 2015. “We will have to because … you can’t have a huge infrastructure supporting a reduced force …

The Defense Department recently completed a multi-million dollar headquarters for the Army Reserve at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos in Southern California, but at least one local official wants the city to have a backup plan in case the installation is closed. “I would like to see the formation of a base closure committee,” Los Alamitos Councilman Richard Murphy said last week. “It’s amazing to me that we don’t have one.” Even if there is only a small chance that the base is shuttered, said Murphy, prudent planning should prompt the city to be ready. “If you follow the budget cuts in the military, I think there’s going to be more and more serious budget cuts under this administration,” he said. “We need to go through the exercise of preparing for that.”

To avoid “hollowing out” the force as it slashes spending over the next decade, the Defense Department will need to identify components of the budget other than force structure, readiness and modernization to capture the needed savings, Michèle Flournoy, who served as defense undersecretary for policy under Obama until last February, wrote in a commentary Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal. Where else to look? One place is infrastructure. “This inability to shed or realign facilities hangs like an albatross around the department’s neck …

Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy last week cited the 911th Airlift Wing’s low operating costs as a key reason why the Pittsburgh-based unit should retain its flying mission. Murphy’s statement came as the chairman of an Air Force working group reviewing active duty, Reserve and Guard airlift bases was scheduled to visit Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station …