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thedrifter
03-28-04, 07:13 AM
03-27-2004 <br />
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From the Editor: <br />
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Will They Destroy the Base by Reorganizing It? <br />
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By Ed Offley

thedrifter
03-28-04, 07:14 AM
So why is this seemingly counterproductive reorganization proceeding? (Most of the job slot relocations have already occurred and the Army Reserve is expected to announce the RIFs at FHL next week.)



Sanson and Diaz said they and other FHL employees have never been given a clear answer, but they have a theory: Because Camp Parks is a small classroom training facility located in an urban area, the USAR chain of command feared that it would be vulnerable to closure in next year’s Base Realignment and Closure hearings. Realigning and transferring FHL employees to a consolidated command group there is a tactic to increase the Livermore facility’s “military value,” the key criterion in the BRAC process for evaluating which base stays open and which one closes.



The Pentagon reportedly wants the 3005 BRAC round to shut down between 23-25 percent of the 425 existing military bases in the United States, citing excess infrastructure costs. That has set state and local governments scrambling to lobby against their facilities being among the 97-106 bases that will likely end up on the closure list.



The other strand of the theory involves competition between two different Installation Management Agencies (IMA) within the U.S. Army Reserve command. For years, FHL has come under the Northwest Division IMA at Fort McCoy, but under the WSCP plan will transfer to the Southwest Division IMA at Fort Sam Houston, Tex.



The two union officials said some, if not all, of the job position losses at Hunter Liggett seem to constitute efforts by McCoy officials to retain them elsewhere in its TOE before transferring the base to the other management agency.



The real question, Sanson said, has gone unanswered since the WCSP plan was announced: “What does this [degradation of Hunter Liggett] do to our national security?”



Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com. © 2004 Ed Offley.


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Ellie