BRAC commissioner visits base

Within two weeks after getting the Secretary of Defense's recommendations for realignment and closure of the nation's bases, members of the commission that will review and modify those recommendations began fanning out across the country looking at the bases on the list.

Friday, former Utah Congressman James Hansen, one of the nine members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), paid a brief one-day visit to Mountain Home AFB, declaring afterwards that the recommendation made for the local base appeared appropriate.

The current BRAC plan calls for the base to wind up hosting a pure F-15E Strike Eagle wing of two squadrons. A squadron from Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, under the current timetable, would arrive in 2009, bringing the wing up to four squadrons, and then in 2011 the wing would lose its F-16CJ and F-15C squadrons, dropping it down to only two squadrons.

Hansen made only a few brief remarks at the Boise airport as he left Idaho. During his visit to the base, where he toured the base facilities and met with the senior leadership on base, Hansen was briefed on the current status of the base, the training range and the associated airspace.

Hansen did not meet with any local officials and the only civilian who took part in the visit was Col. (ret.) Billy Ritchey, the governor's military liason. The governor was out of the state on a trade mission.

Hansen's intention to visit the base had been announced only a few days before.

Ritchey described the visit as a "validation" assessment of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recommendations, which in this final round of BRAC is based almost entirely on military capability of the bases.

"Today's visit," 366th Fighter Wing Commander Charles Shugg said in a prepared press release Friday, "was important because it gave the BRAC commissioner an opportunity to see Mountain home Air Force Base and its training range complex up close and personal.

"We would characterize today's meeting as beneficial to both the Air Force base and the BRAC commissioner. We feel Mountain Home AFB is a tremendous military asset, and we will continue to train hard and provide air dominance whenever and wherever needed by our nation," he said.

Following a whirlwind series of visits to bases mentioned on the BRAC list, the BRAC Commission will hold a series of regional hearings on the proposals.

Next Monday, June 6, the hearings involving the BRAC actions for Idaho, and other bases in the region, will be held in Salt Lake City.

Ritchey said the state will have one hour to make its case and answer questions for all the actions proposed in Idaho. He said state, local and congressional delegation officials would be meeting this week to map out the presentation.

In addition to the changes proposed for Mountain Home AFB, the BRAC recommendation also calls for the Idaho Air National Guard to lose its C-130 squadron (it will be transferred to Cheyenne, Wyo.) and for the seven-man Navy depot in Pocatello to close.

Ritchey said he intially expected that Senator Larry Craig, a member of the Republican leadership in Congress, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Mayor Joe B. McNeal, the city's economic development director Ron Swearingen, the Chamber's Military Affairs Committee chairman Terry Turner, and possibly Alan Bermensolo, one of the long-time local leaders of those who support the base, would probably testify.

"We need to make sure the (BRAC) commission sees the military value of the base, and what the state, city and county do to support the base."

He noted that despite the lack of advance warning concerning the hearing, the local community and the state were well prepared to make their case.

He also pointed out that the state's congressional delegation "has constantly worked to improve the base and we've developed one of the best training ranges in the United States," almost unique because "it's in the unit's back yard."

He said the delegation to the hearing will want to discuss the economic impact of the proposed changes. "There is an economic impact on the state," he said, noting the base is one of the state's largest employers and has a total impact, direct and secondary, of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to the state's economy.

In addition, he said, the governor almost certainly will object to the loss of the C-130 squadron at Gowen Field (the move would leave the Idaho Air National Guard with only a squadron of A-10 Warthogs).

There is considerable debate as to whether or not the Department of Defense can realign Guard units without permission of the governors. In addition, "there is the issue that there would be no airlift under the governor's command," and the firefighting capabilites of those planes would be moved to Cheyenne. In fact, all C-130 in the northwest are being moved out under the proposed BRAC plan.

"You just want to make sure the (BRAC) commission is looking at all these impacts," Ritchey said.

"We don't want to sit back (at the hearing) and say the facts speak for themselves," Ritchey pointed out, because if seven of the nine commissioners agree, a base can be added to the closure list.

"We have to stress the military value of the base and the quality of life" that airmen at the base enjoy, especially the fact that the cost of living here is less than in other parts of the country, helping military family paychecks go further.

"There are so many things that are extremely postive about Idaho. But we need to make our case to the commission.

"From the federal to the local level, we're united in our efforts to present the best argument we can."

Ritchey also noted that this BRAC may be the hardest of all, since, after three previous rounds of BRAC, "we're basically down to all good bases. It's hard to rank them."

BRAC hearings will be held around the country from June 6 to July 14. On July 1, the Comptroller General will release a report containing a detailed analysis of the BRAC recommendations and the selection process.

No later than Sept. 8 the BRAC commission must transmit its final report and recommendations to President Bush, who has until Sept. 23 to forward the recommendations to Congress. If he approves the recommendations the changes will go into effect 45 days later, unless Congress votes to reject the entire package.

If he doesn't approve the recommendations, the BRAC commission has until Oct. 20 to submit a new plan, which the president would then send to Congress by Nov. 7.

If the plan is rejected by Congress, the process ends.