Commission wraps up BRAC decisions

  • Published
  • By Donna Miles
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission wrapped up four days of deliberations in final actions Aug. 26 and 27 by voting to turn Pope Air Force Base, N.C., into an Army airfield and recommending sweeping recommendations to revamp the Air National Guard and consolidate its operations.

The nine-person commission deviated significantly from the Pentagon's proposed plan to realign the Air Guard, passing a recommendation that would ensure every state with an existing Air Guard unit would retain at least some Guard aircraft.

The decisions, made over the course of four days in Arlington, Va., will be reflected in a final report to be sent to President Bush by Sept. 8. If he concurs, the president will send the final list to Congress, which can accept or reject it in its entirety, but not change it.

The votes follow months of hearings nationwide regarding DOD's proposal to reshape the military infrastructure and eliminate excess capacity by closing 33 major bases and realigning 29 others.

Defense officials had estimated the plan would save about $49 billion over the next 20 years, although that figure is expected to alter dramatically based on the BRAC decisions.

In major actions since Aug. 24, the BRAC commission voted to close these Air Force installations:

-- Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, consolidating medical operations for the region at a new San Antonio Regional Medical Center at nearby Fort Sam Houston.

-- Brooks City-Base, Texas.

-- Onizuka Air Force Station, Calif.

-- Galena Airport Forward Operation Location, Alaska.

The panel voted to keep open the following Air Force installations and schools:

-- Ellsworth AFB, S.D.

-- Cannon AFB, N.M., until at least 2009, and urged DOD to find a new mission for the base, if possible;

-- Defense Language Institute, Monterey, Calif.

-- Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, establishing a governing board to coordinate education programs between the school and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Other votes the panel made affecting the Air Force are:

-- Consolidate operations at Fort Dix, McGuire AFB and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in New Jersey, creating a single joint base under a central commander at McGuire.

-- Consolidate 26 Defense Finance and Accounting Service offices into five: in Cleveland; Limestone, Maine, at the former Loring AFB; Rome, N.Y., at the former Griffiss AFB; at the Defense Supply Center-Columbus, Ohio; the Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis at the former Fort Benjamin Harrison; and in Alexandria, Va.

-- Move the dental training school at Sheppard AFB, Texas, to Fort Sam Houston as part of a new consolidated medical center.

-- Realign Randolph AFB, Texas, by moving its undergraduate navigator training to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

-- Block the move of active-component combat aircraft from Eielson AFB, Alaska.

-- Stop the move of about 1,000 jobs to Hanscom AFB, Mass.