military base shut downs
 

It looks like more than half of the 2004 election swing states are gaining military jobs from the base closings... I smell an attempt to gain votes.

http://www.defenselink.mil/brac/pdf/...nalUpdated.pdf

ETA: Seems that way.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~goril...k/swingmap.jpg

With non-partison McNamara making the decisions? There's a surprize.

This shouldn't come as a shock.

Frankly, though, base closings have been a boon to many cities -- after the initial shock. Depends on how creatively local leaders handle the situation.

Here in Aurora/Denver, the old Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center campus is now the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and a beautiful facility.

The former Lowry Air Force Base is rapidly becomming an outstanding example of a new urban lifestyle community with housing and other stuff for most income groups.

It can be tough, but there is life after the military.

Massachusetts did well in the process; the major bases were kept open, and the only base marked for closing was a relatively minor one.

It's funny, a bipartisan effort (Governor Romney and Senator Kennedy working together) helped the state save those bases.

Is Otis the only one that is going to be closed?

I believe so..Natick and Hanscomb were definitely saved, and I think that everyone else (except Otis) was saved as well.

That's what I thought. Although since quite a few of my friends on the Cape work at Otis I know they're not too happy right about now.

True...and I don't want to minimize the impact that a closing has on a community. Connecticut lost a big base in Groton, and I know a couple of people who have been impacted by that closing.

The closings can still be appealed, so maybe there is still hope for Otis.

Hold on folks... the listing ain't final yet... the named bases on the BRAC list have to prove their case why shouldn't they be shut down by September. Between now and then some of these bases will probably muster enough support to avoid the chopping block.

or muster Trent Lot to save them again? (Naval station in Mississippi)

Hard to believe that where I went for technical training (Lowry) 20 years ago is now a new urban development. Doubtful if I'll find any traces of the old dorms and classrooms, though.

Trent doesn't have as much pull as he once had when he was majority leader of the Senate.

That's what I'm thinking - doesn't the list need to be approved/rejected as a whole anyway? I kind of doubt that will happen on the first try.

Actually, they haven't gotten to some of those areas yet. Hangar #1 (Where I directed a Bob Hope thing one Christmas) and some of the other buildings are still standing.

The old brig is now an excellent private (K-8) school, and some of the other buildings have been repurposed.

But there are some really nice new homes on the South part of the old base especially. (They're doing much of the same kind of stuff at the old Stapleton Airport.)

The old main runway (guessing it was 9/27 given it's orientation) is an extention of Denver's Sixth Avenue -- which it has been for a long time, ever since they decommissioned the runways.

There's some real history there, especially from the Eisenhower years and when the base was basically the Air Force Academy before the Colorado Springs campus opened.

I know from personal observation that it's economy is better since all of the military bases were closed, and the new developments pay taxes.

And some of these bases have only been kept alive by politics - how else would you explain the Navy's supply corps school (that's how to load a ship) in Athens, GA - hundreds of miles from any ship.

But the bases that should be closed are overseas - why are we still in Europe 60 years after the war's end?

Why are we still in Japan and Korea?

The nations are now full competitors in the world economy, but get a huge break by not spending much on military.

I know all the Kansas bases will remain open, and if memory serves me correctly both McConnell AFB, Leavenworth, and Ft. Riley will be gaining troops/jobs.

Many bases in Europe have already closed down and returned to their host country. On the Air Force side:

Soesterberg AB, The Netherlands (Camp New Amsterdam)
Bitburg AB, Germany (only the air base proper; Spangdahlem is using the housing annex)
Hahn AB, Germany (returned to Germany, now a civilian airport)
Zweibrücken AB, Germany (returned to Germany)
Sembach AB, Germany (returned to Germany)
Rhein-Main AB, Germany (returned to Germany, being converted to cargo area for Frankfurt International Airport)

Among others too numerous to mention.

Technically, South Korea is still at war with North Korea... all they signed was an armistice. The Japanese bases can be used to support Korea if the sh*t hits the fan.

Japanese have a very healthy arms industry... only they can't export it - it's supposed to be only for self-defense. Which is why they obtain licenses to build American fighters in Japan.

Colorado will have a net gain as well, with no bases closing.

Ahem... Air Force calls 'em 'confinement facilities'. Brigs are for swab-jockeys! :D

Interestingly, the confinement facility inmates at old Lowry were fed by the food service school students. The inmates in the facility were undergoing a rehabilitation program where if they stayed on good behavior and completed their confinement, they would have the opportunity to come back into the Air Force and re-start their careers. No first-termers there - all were former NCOs, as evidenced by the unfaded shadow of their former rank on their green fatigues (this was before BDUs). I saw plenty of former staff and tech sergeants, and even one master sergeant (back when the MSgt rank was six downward chevrons - not the five down and one up that's the current rank).

I'm so sad to hear it's closing... :(

My daddy used to take me there to watch the planes when I was a little kid during the summers we'd spend at the Cape.

No surprises for Hawaii. :)