The Associated Press August 26, 2005
Military base closing panel votes to spare Fort Knox hospital
By Jonathan M. Katz
WASHINGTON - A federal panel's Thursday decision to save Fort Knox's hospital will keep the post vital into the future, advocates said.
The decision rejected a Pentagon recommendation that the facility be downgraded into an outpatient clinic.
Ireland Army Community Hospital was slated to lose its inpatient care facilities, including its maternity ward, sending soldiers, their families and nearby veterans 30 minutes away to hospitals in Hardin County, or about an hour north to Louisville.
But the Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted 7-2 to strike the plan, citing the distance soldiers and their families would have to travel to get inpatient medical care.
"We still have additional capacity here and could probably take another brigade at some point in time," said Bill Barron, a retired Army Reserves major general who is active in issues around the post. "Having that hospital remain in a hospital status will help us when we try to sell additional units," on moving to Fort Knox.
The vote came a day after the same panel approved the first part of a plan that would give the Army post in central Kentucky an active fighting component and new personnel management staffs that will increase its population.
"Obviously we're pleased with the decision. This will enable us to continue to provide appropriate and convenient inpatient care for our beneficiaries," said Col. Steven Braverman, commander at the hospital on the Army post in central Kentucky.
The panel Thursday also approved a consolidation plan that would bring the Army Human Resources Command to Fort Knox. The move will bring in some 2,200 civilian and 600 military jobs from realigned posts in Indiana, Virginia and Missouri, said retired Brig. Gen. James E. Shane Jr., executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs.
Fort Knox's additions will bring in some 8,500 personnel overall, an increase of about 4,800 permanent personnel when accounting for the loss of the armor school. Even with losing its part-time armor student population of about 7,800, the post and surrounding community stand to see a boost of about $250 million annually and an additional $106 million in military construction, Shane said.
Other decisions by the commission on Thursday will cost jobs elsewhere in Kentucky. The panel voted to realign the Louisville detachment of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Division by relocating its gun and ammunition research and development unit to New Jersey's Picatinny Arsenal. The removal could result in the loss of some 500 jobs, according to analysis published by the military think tank Globalsecurity.org.
But the panel amended the Pentagon's recommendation by preserving the special operations weapons development unit at the nearby Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center in southern Indiana.
The panel also voted Thursday to close the Defense Finance and Accounting Service office in Lexington as part of a nationwide consolidation, cutting about 45 jobs.
On Wednesday, the commission approved moving the post's Armor School to Georgia to make room for a combat brigade and the relocation of engineer, military police and combat service support units from Europe and Korea. The panel's recommendations then go to President Bush for his approval.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission approved the planned changes as part of its nationwide plan to reconstitute the military. It also approved personnel changes at Fort Campbell and the realignment and closure of several reserve components in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Fort Knox's Armor Center and School, which employs about 4,000 military and civilian workers, will be sent to Fort Benning, Ga., but the base is getting the U.S. Army Accessions Command and U.S. Army Cadet Command from Fort Monroe, Va., and the 84th Army Reserve Regional Training Center from Fort McCoy, Wis.
© Copyright 2005, The Associated Press
