thedrifter
07-15-05, 06:04 AM
Team urges commission to keep San Diego depot
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES ---- A team of representatives from San Diego traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday to defend the Marines' downtown San Diego recruit depot against the threat of being shuttered.
The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission is reviewing the historic training post for inclusion on the list of facilities it will consider next month for closure.
Joining with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and dozens of representatives from communities across California whose home bases are also jeopardized by the base closure process, San Diego County's five-member delegation made its case to five of the nine members of the closure commission who attended the three-hour hearing at Westchester High School in Los Angeles.
"The military value of maintaining a recruit depot on both coasts is undeniable," said retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, who drew on his 37-career in the Marines and his time commanding the Marines' East Coast recruit depot at Parris Island to defend the San Diego facility.
His defense was in response to a July 1 letter by base closure commission Chairman Anthony Principi, asking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why the San Diego depot could not be closed and moved to South Carolina, where it could be consolidated with the Parris Island recruit depot.
Hoar, who is a resident of Del Mar and a member of Gov. Schwarzenegger's hand-picked California Council of Base Support and Retention, seemed uniquely qualified to make the case against moving the depot. As the former commander of Parris Island, he said he knew firsthand that the South Carolina depot "cannot absorb" the activities of the San Diego Depot, where more than one half of male recruits are made into Marines.
"It simply cannot be done," he said, citing the strikes against the Parris Island facility rather than extolling the virtues of the San Diego depot.
Hoar said the encroachment of residential communities, adjacent civilian recreation areas and the proximity of the Hilton Head resort complex make expanding the facilities and live fire ranges at Parris Island impossible.
He added that the flat, low-lying South Carolina base is vulnerable to hurricanes and that a move there would cost the military more than $600 million.
Principi, the head of the commission, asked Hoar why the Marine Corps resisted consolidating its basic training operations in one location, as the Navy and Air Force have done.
Thanking the chairman for asking the question, Hoar replied, "The Marines are just not like everybody else," drawing rowdy applause from many in the audience in the school auditorium.
The Marines have traditionally divided recruit training by the recruits' hometowns. Those from east of the Mississippi River go to Parris Island. Those from west of the river go to San Diego.
Hoar said the separation has kept the young recruits close to home and close to the receiving Marine units on either coast.
Limiting the Marine Corps to one cramped East Coast training facility cripples the "surge capacity" of the Marine Corps to ramp up recruit training during national emergencies such as war, he said.
"It really doesn't make an awful lot of sense to try to put it all at Parris Island," he said.
The second issue the San Diego team presented was the fate of the Navy's downtown Broadway complex across from the Embarcadero.
The Navy and the city of San Diego have been trying to redevelop the complex of administrative and command offices for civilian use for the last 18 years.
Julie Meier Wright, the chief executive officer of the San Diego Regional Development Corporation, told the panel in Los Angeles that the military has done nothing to clear out or sell the property.
She said some Navy officials want to rid themselves of the unsecured property in the busy downtown quarter and move to a secure location on one of San Diego's major naval bases, but internal divisions have stalled the move.
She urged the base closure commission to consider adding the Broadway complex to its list of bases so that the redevelopment would achieve official and legal momentum.
"We did not take this to the Navy," she said. "They brought it to us."
Delegations from other parts of California voiced their objections to proposals to close or consolidate at least five other California facilities, including the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Norco, the Riverbank Army Ammunition Depot in the Central Valley, the Ventura County Naval Base, the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, and the China Lake Naval Weapons Station.
In a very short appearance before he flew to Mexico for a luncheon with other border state governors, Schwarzenegger reaffirmed California's place "at the tip of the spear of our nation's military capability."
He reminded the commissioners that California had suffered the brunt of the last four rounds of base closures, losing a full 30 percent of the bases lost nationwide ---- amounting to some 100,000 jobs.
"What we know today, and what the Defense Department has recognized," Schwarzenegger said, "is this: For the good of our nation's security ---- the bases that are here, should stay here."
After several more regional hearings in other states and last-minute tours of facilities under review, the base closure commission will meet in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to decide which bases to add to or strike from the list of bases offered by the Defense Department in May. Ý
After more tours, hearings and special inquiries, the commission will convene Aug. 22 to begin a week of deliberations, which should result in a final list of closures, and other changes to be sent to President Bush in by Sept. 8.
Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES ---- A team of representatives from San Diego traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday to defend the Marines' downtown San Diego recruit depot against the threat of being shuttered.
The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission is reviewing the historic training post for inclusion on the list of facilities it will consider next month for closure.
Joining with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and dozens of representatives from communities across California whose home bases are also jeopardized by the base closure process, San Diego County's five-member delegation made its case to five of the nine members of the closure commission who attended the three-hour hearing at Westchester High School in Los Angeles.
"The military value of maintaining a recruit depot on both coasts is undeniable," said retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, who drew on his 37-career in the Marines and his time commanding the Marines' East Coast recruit depot at Parris Island to defend the San Diego facility.
His defense was in response to a July 1 letter by base closure commission Chairman Anthony Principi, asking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why the San Diego depot could not be closed and moved to South Carolina, where it could be consolidated with the Parris Island recruit depot.
Hoar, who is a resident of Del Mar and a member of Gov. Schwarzenegger's hand-picked California Council of Base Support and Retention, seemed uniquely qualified to make the case against moving the depot. As the former commander of Parris Island, he said he knew firsthand that the South Carolina depot "cannot absorb" the activities of the San Diego Depot, where more than one half of male recruits are made into Marines.
"It simply cannot be done," he said, citing the strikes against the Parris Island facility rather than extolling the virtues of the San Diego depot.
Hoar said the encroachment of residential communities, adjacent civilian recreation areas and the proximity of the Hilton Head resort complex make expanding the facilities and live fire ranges at Parris Island impossible.
He added that the flat, low-lying South Carolina base is vulnerable to hurricanes and that a move there would cost the military more than $600 million.
Principi, the head of the commission, asked Hoar why the Marine Corps resisted consolidating its basic training operations in one location, as the Navy and Air Force have done.
Thanking the chairman for asking the question, Hoar replied, "The Marines are just not like everybody else," drawing rowdy applause from many in the audience in the school auditorium.
The Marines have traditionally divided recruit training by the recruits' hometowns. Those from east of the Mississippi River go to Parris Island. Those from west of the river go to San Diego.
Hoar said the separation has kept the young recruits close to home and close to the receiving Marine units on either coast.
Limiting the Marine Corps to one cramped East Coast training facility cripples the "surge capacity" of the Marine Corps to ramp up recruit training during national emergencies such as war, he said.
"It really doesn't make an awful lot of sense to try to put it all at Parris Island," he said.
The second issue the San Diego team presented was the fate of the Navy's downtown Broadway complex across from the Embarcadero.
The Navy and the city of San Diego have been trying to redevelop the complex of administrative and command offices for civilian use for the last 18 years.
Julie Meier Wright, the chief executive officer of the San Diego Regional Development Corporation, told the panel in Los Angeles that the military has done nothing to clear out or sell the property.
She said some Navy officials want to rid themselves of the unsecured property in the busy downtown quarter and move to a secure location on one of San Diego's major naval bases, but internal divisions have stalled the move.
She urged the base closure commission to consider adding the Broadway complex to its list of bases so that the redevelopment would achieve official and legal momentum.
"We did not take this to the Navy," she said. "They brought it to us."
Delegations from other parts of California voiced their objections to proposals to close or consolidate at least five other California facilities, including the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Norco, the Riverbank Army Ammunition Depot in the Central Valley, the Ventura County Naval Base, the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, and the China Lake Naval Weapons Station.
In a very short appearance before he flew to Mexico for a luncheon with other border state governors, Schwarzenegger reaffirmed California's place "at the tip of the spear of our nation's military capability."
He reminded the commissioners that California had suffered the brunt of the last four rounds of base closures, losing a full 30 percent of the bases lost nationwide ---- amounting to some 100,000 jobs.
"What we know today, and what the Defense Department has recognized," Schwarzenegger said, "is this: For the good of our nation's security ---- the bases that are here, should stay here."
After several more regional hearings in other states and last-minute tours of facilities under review, the base closure commission will meet in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to decide which bases to add to or strike from the list of bases offered by the Defense Department in May. Ý
After more tours, hearings and special inquiries, the commission will convene Aug. 22 to begin a week of deliberations, which should result in a final list of closures, and other changes to be sent to President Bush in by Sept. 8.
Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.
Ellie