Base Closings

[Mycroft]

Have you all heard about the base closings? I think it is horrible since we are at war and it is not the time. It has very few benifits and more disavantages. Remeber what happened at Pearl Harbor, when we put "all of our eggs in one basket."

 

[Dismuke]

Have you all heard about the base closings? I think it is horrible since we are at war and it is not the time. It has very few benifits and more disavantages. Remeber what happened at Pearl Harbor, when we put "all of our eggs in one basket."

Are you able to cite specific examples of how the closings would, in fact, leave us in a situation where we have "all of our eggs in one basket"? I don't have enough knowledge about military matters to know one way or another. So far, all of the negative comments I have heard on the news regarding the base closures have been framed in terms of the impact on local economies. I am sorry, but the United States armed forces are not some sort of welfare program nor are they a community development organization.

As to the fact that we are at war - one might also be able to make the exact opposite case: the military, now more than ever, needs to be more efficient and smarter in how it utilizes its finite resources. If some bases have outlived their usefulness in the context of rapid changes in technology and in the global political situation, then doing away with them needs to be on the table. Just like with a lot of private industries, because of improvements in technology, there are probably many areas where the military is now able to do the same amount of work with fewer people - which, of course, would mean that they would not require as much in the way of facilities. It wouldn't surprise me if at least some of the consolidations are the result of exactly that.

I very much have empathy for the communities that are going to be impacted. I have visited a few towns that once had large military bases that closed decades ago and have yet to fully recover. It is a very sad thing. But, at the same time, that is a possibility that one must always be aware of when one chooses to live or invest in an area that is not economically diversified.

 

[Badluck Brody]

Simply Consolidating

I agree with Dismuke

In many cases a military base is the bread and butter of the surrounding civilian areas. They might not like having the GI's around, but many areas need it financially.

I think that some cases it's trying to trim the fat of some locations (National Guard and Reserve bases) that could be sold off for profit and the units consolidated with active duty personnel.



JMO

Brody

 

[zeus36]

The key word to the BRAC is:

Re-alignment


And the list is only a recommendation.