La Junta Tribune-Democrat December 12, 2005
PCMS expansion under review
By Mike Harris
What might have been a rumor concerning Piñon Canyon Manuever Site last Thursday, has now at least been confirmed as a possible project.
According to Dee McNutt, Chief of Media Relations for Fort Carson it's not a rumor, McNutt said “We're in the initial planning stages and can't comment on the proposal.” When asked about the proposed acreage, Mcnutt added that she couldn't discuss that either, but did confirm that the Army does have plans in the works to increase the size of the training area.
As mentioned last week, La Junta Development Inc. is taking a regional approach on economic development issues and there is a report that the Army plans to increase the size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site by 750,000 acres.
“It's my understanding, and I don't believe it's a rumor” that the Army is going to increase the size of the PCMS area by 750,000 acres, Wayne Snider of LJDI said Thursday.
According to Kevin Karney, a rancher and Otero County Commissioner, people have been discussing eventual expansion of the PCMS area since it came into existence in 1985. Karney added that while many ranchers anticipated an increase in size it's doubtful that anyone anticipated an increase in size of this magnitude.
Karney said that he'd also heard of the proposed increase but that he had no concrete information through any of his affiliations, either as a rancher or a county commissioner. Karney said that ranchers in the area are concerned and uncertain about what is happening, and would like to know more since an increase of the PCMS - especially as reported - effects them directly. Karney added that many of the ranchers in the area have multi-generation ties to the land they work and that the land is special to them.
Karney and others have also said that an increase of 750,000 acres seems like a huge increase considering what the area is purported to be, a non-live fire training area allowing force-on-force, mechanized brigade training exercises.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington D.C. think tank that deals with military and intelligence issues, “PCMS hosts two major military exercises a year. In each exercise, roughly 5,000 troops, 300 heavy tracked vehicles and 400 wheeled vehicles take to the expansive wilderness in month-long, intensive war maneuver exercises.” The current acreage of the PCMS area is 245,000 acres and when combined with the rest of Fort Carson, which manages the area, the combined training area in Colorado is nearly 400,000 acres.
Snider had said that adding an additional 750,000 acres would make the site one of the largest in the country. In fact it would become the largest in the country. Currently, the largest is at Fort Irwin, in California, and with the proposed increase the PCMS alone - not counting the rest of Fort Carson - at 995,000 acres would easily surpass it; increasing the total training size available to Fort Carson to nearly 1,150,000 acres. Fort Irwin the home of the National Training Center, which is the only instrumental training facility in the world that is suitable for force-on-force and live fire training of heavy brigade-sized military forces, is 642,000 acres.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, “The depth and width of the battle space (at Fort Irwin) gives BCT (brigade) elements the unique opportunity to exercise all of its elements in a realistic environment. This is often a unit's only opportunity to test it's combat service and combat service support elements over a doctrinal distance. Brigades must be able to communicate through up to eight communications corridors, evacuate casualties over 40 kilometers, and navigate at night in treacherous terrain with few distinguishable roads. Other environmental conditions such as a 40 to 50 degree diurnal temperature range, winds over 45 knots, and constant exposure to the sun stresses every system and soldier to their limit.”
According to Karney and others the size increase of the PCMS alone, especially when compared to Fort Irwin, adds a new emphasis to the questions about why the army may be considering such an increase. Also, Karney said questions are raised with area ranchers as to what the land acquisition process is going to be and at what cost.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, “The land purchase (Pinon Canyon) was completed on Sept. 17, 1983. The cost was approximately $26 million. An additional $2 million was used for relocation of 11 landowners and for school bond relief. Approximately one half of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site was acquired by the legal process of condemnation.”
Karney said that the process of condemnation is one of the issues that has ranchers most concerned.
© Copyright 2005, La Junta Tribune-Democrat
