Free Times, Columbia, SC August 25, 2004
Fighting for Military Money
Advocates Lobby for Local Bases
By David Axe
A high-dollar campaign is under way to save two major military bases in the Columbia area that are up for review when the Defense Department decides on another round of base closures in 2005.
The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce is leading the effort to save Fort Jackson and McEntire Air National Guard Station.
Some observers believe the military will close up to a quarter of its domestic facilities when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, issues its next recommended list of bases to be shuttered. "BRAC is an important effort to streamline our defense establishment and take money we're spending on unneeded facilities and maintenance and put it toward our urgent defense needs," says U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Says Ike McLeese, president of the Chamber of Commerce, "If you look at the big picture, somebody fairly large has got to go down."
Besides Fort Jackson and McEntire, major facilities in South Carolina include Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, the Marine Corps' Parris Island Recruit Depot near Beaufort and a Marine air station in the Beaufort area.
Despite losing its major Navy base in increments during the 1993 and 1995 BRACs, Charleston still plays host to several important facilities, including a large Air Force base, a Navy training school and a Navy brig. Myrtle Beach lost its Air Force base in the 1991 BRAC.
The total dollar value of South Carolina's six major military facilities is difficult to quantify, but Fort Jackson alone pumps as much as $1.3 billion annually into the local economy, McLeese says, and the combined value of S.C. bases could be as high as $6 billion.
Miles Hadley, Forest Acres interim city administrator, says Fort Jackson is crucial. "Fort Jackson is very important to Forest Acres, because a lot of military folks live in Forest Acres and shop here," Hadley says. "It's very important to our economy."
In addition to the direct economic impact of military pay, the Palmetto State's bases, with their associated post exchanges and veteran's hospitals, attract a large number of military retirees.
With so much money at stake, no one's taking any chances with BRAC. "We have set a budget of $800,000 from June '03 through the end of the process in November '05," McLeese says of the campaign to save local bases. "We have $150,000 from the city of Columbia, $100,000 from Richland County and $30,000 from Forest Acres. We're raising the rest of it in the business community."
Graham and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., both of whom sit on their respective bodies' Armed Services committees, say they are doing what they can to protect S.C. bases.
"We do not take anything for granted, and we will continue to aggressively promote our bases with military officials, by coordinating with local and state leaders," Wilson says. "I have had multiple discussions with Pentagon officials and others in Washington."
John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a think tank based in Alexandria, Va., says he believes that Fort Jackson will fare well in 2005. "Training requirements are not going down anytime soon, so I imagine Fort Jackson will do just fine," Pike says.
McLeese isn't so sure. "We are very concerned about Jackson," he says. "The stated objective is to shut down 25 percent of base infrastructure. The Army has survived better than the other branches in previous rounds, so it believes it may lose 30 percent."
There are five basic-training Army posts in the country: Fort Jackson, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Fort Knox in Kentucky and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
"They're not going to close Benning or Knox because the environmental cleanup would be too expensive," McLeese says. He adds that he doesn't believe the Army will close Fort Sill either. "That puts us in competition with Leonard Wood."
As part of its fight to keep Fort Jackson open, in the summer of 2003 the Chamber of Commerce hired the Rhodes Group, a Washington, D.C.-based defense consulting firm.
Municipalities across the country have taken similar steps, sometimes employing firms "laden with military retirees," McLeese says. "We hired a firm that is well received with the civilians at the Pentagon," he says, adding, "The reason we did that is that in this round of base closures, the civilians will make the final recommendation."
Graham says he is "tremendously impressed" by "the joint effort of our state and local communities in preparing for BRAC. We have unmatched cooperation between our business communities and political leadership."
The chamber has met with South Carolina's congressional delegation three times, McLeese says. "In addition, we have been at the Pentagon about three times this year meeting with people involved in the process."
Between Fort Jackson and McEntire, McLeese says McEntire might be the most vulnerable. The base operates F-16C Block 50 fighters, the same model operated at nearby Shaw Air Force Base. And while Shaw is an active-duty post, some observers believe the Air Force could save millions by consolidating F-16 operations in South Carolina at one base. That would save overhead and allow the Defense Department to sell McEntire's 2,400 acres and eliminate or transfer some of its 600 full-time staff.
"There's some movement coming out of Sumter from well-meaning people who say we should blend the S.C. Air National Guard with Shaw," McLeese says. "They see this as a way of BRAC-proofing Shaw."
But McLeese hopes the age and experience of McEntire's pilots will save it from closure. "The average time in the cockpit for F-16 pilots at McEntire is 20 years," he says. "We would make the case that if the Air Force really wants to tap into that experience, they could rotate pilots from McEntire."
Pike says he doesn't see that as a likely outcome. "Very few Air National Guard units are located at [active-duty] Air Force bases."
Ironically, BRAC means bigger bases for some states, because while the military might close up to 25 percent of its facilities, the number of people in the armed forces is holding steady. McLeese says Fort Jackson has succeeded in picking up troops whose bases were closed in previous BRACs. "We've picked up the Defense Polygraph School, the Soldier's Institute and the Chaplain's School."
Perhaps complicating BRAC this time around is President Bush's recent announcement that as many as 70,000 active-duty personnel and their families will be re-deployed stateside from overseas bases. "In round numbers it is roughly a 10 percent increase in the active component Army stationed in the U.S., and they will have to put them somewhere," Pike says.
Even as the chamber lobbies to save local bases, it anticipates a contest following BRAC to win a portion of the re-deployed personnel. "We've got to slip out of [the] hangman's noose first," McLeese says.
© Copyright 2004, Free Times, Columbia, SC
