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August 30, 2005
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DefenseWatch Staff
St. Louis , MO - The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) cuffed Missouri and Illinois defense employees and service members about the head and shoulders in its quest to close unnecessary military bases to save tax dollars.
Pentagon recommendations to move more than 2,000 defense human resources and finance jobs from St. Louis to Fort Knox , Kentucky triggered a wave of protests from Missouri and Illinois politicians who see their constituency voting with its feet to keep their jobs. Even "Lindbergh's Own" 131st Air National Guard F-15 Fighter Wing wasn't safe, or the 183rd F-16 Fighter Wing in Springfield, Ill., both of which face the chopping block unless last minute political and legal wrangling saves them.
Last month IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against U.S. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and BRAC to stop the Pentagon from moving F-16s from Springfield 's 183rd Fighter Wing. So far it has had no impact on BRAC's unpopular decisions.
The commission also voted to move the Tank Automotive and Armaments Command and its 1,100 jobs from the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois to the Detroit Arsenal
Blagojevich said Thursday that the BRAC's decision, "... is going to waste precious defense dollars while providing very limited military rewards. While we were successful in keeping the bulk of the arsenal intact, we will continue our fight to keep this mission and others located at this historic military installation where they belong."
Scott Air Force Base, near St. Louis is the only big winner in the region besides the Army's huge Ft. Leonard Wood Training Center, which survived virtually unscathed and will in fact gain slightly in both jobs and missions. Scott AFB stands to gain almost 800 jobs as a result of the commission's decision to move the Army Surface Deployment Command there.
In another locally disappointing decision last Wednesday BRAC voted 9-0 to accept the Pentagon's recommendations to close the U.S. Army Reserve Centers in the two states. The historic Jefferson Barracks Army Reserve Center is to be closed, with units to be relocated to a new consolidated Armed Forces Reserve Center at Jefferson Barracks if suitable land to build the new facilities can be purchased. Similarly the Army Reserve Center in Greentop , Mo. , is to be relocated to a new center in Kirksville , Mo. , if the Army is able to acquire suitable land for that new facility.
The only winner in the BRAC's lotto in Missouri is the 139th Airlift Wing, located at Rosecrans Air Field in St. Joseph . It is slated to receive four additional C-130s, an aeromedical squadron and fire fighters from the Will Rogers Air Guard Station, Okla. resulting in approximately 340 new positions for Citizen-Airmen, including 35 full-time positions, Army officials said.
In Illinois , commissioners voted to close Army Reserve Centers in Marion , Centralia , Fairfield and Waukegan , with plans to move them to Carbondale , Mount Vernon and Lake County .
The U.S. Navy did not fare to well either. The commissioners agreed with Pentagon recommendations to close a Navy Recruiting District in Kansas City and Navy Reserve Centers in Cape Girardeau , Mo. , and Forest Park , Ill.
The commission also voted to move the First Army headquarters to the Rock Island Arsenal, bringing it 400 new jobs, although the net loss at the old arsenal will be approximately 600 positions, Rock Island officials said
Announcements about still more decisions regarding Illinois and Missouri were pending at the time of this report.
BRAC recommended that the 131st Fighter Wing's F-15 aircraft be redistributed to other units and the non-flying 157th AOG and 218th EIG relocate from Jefferson Barracks to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport that has been home to "Lindbergh's Own" for decades. The recommendation for the F-15s would move nine of the 15 aircraft to the 57th Fighter Wing, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. and six aircraft to the 177th Fighter Wing, Atlantic City International Airport Air Guard Station, N.J. Firefighter positions at the wing would move to Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
The 131st Fighter Wing currently has 1,200 service members assigned to the unit at Lambert, including 400 full-time members, nearly 800 traditional Guardsmen and 15 civilian personnel. The 157th AOG has approximately 200 members, including 35 full-time members and the 218th EIG has approximately 120 troops, including 17 full-time personnel. The full impact of this decision is not yet known, Air Guard officials said.
The 139th Airlift Wing currently has 1,050 Citizen-Airmen, including 355 full-timers.
©2005 DefenseWatch. Send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com . All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.
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