[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 142 (Tuesday, November 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2232-E2233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   DISAPPROVING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE DEFENSE BASE CLOSURE AND 
                         REALIGNMENT COMMISSION

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DAVID L. HOBSON

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 27, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House of the State the 
     Union has under consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. 
     Res. 65) disapproving the recommendation of the Defense Base 
     Closure and Realignment Commission:

  Mr. HOBSON. Mr. Chairman, I submit for the Congressional Record two 
items on the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's (BRAC) 
recommendations.
  I am submitting pages 156-157 from the 2005 Defense Base Closure and 
Realignment Commission Report to the President that includes a summary 
of the flawed rationale used for the recommended realignment of the 
Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Air Guard Station.
  Mr. Speaker, I also include a chart showing the strength and 
efficiency of the response time by members of the Air National Guard in 
response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, especially relative to 
the active Air Force.

       SPRINGFIELD-BECKLEY MUNICIPAL AIRPORT AIR GUARD STATION, OH
                  [Recommendation #107 (Air Force 40)]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One-Time Cost..............................................       $30.8M
Annual Recurring Costs/(Savings)...........................      ($2.5M)
20-Year Net Present Value..................................      ($5.4M)
Payback Period.............................................     14 years
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                  SECRETARY OF DEFENSE RECOMMENDATION

       Realign Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Air Guard 
     Station, OH. Distribute the 178th Fighter Wing's F-16 
     aircraft to the 132nd Fighter Wing, Des Moines International 
     Airport Air Guard Station, IA (nine aircraft); the 140th Wing 
     (ANG), Buckley Air Force Base, CO (three aircraft) and 149th 
     Fighter Wing (ANG), Lackland Air Force Base, TX (six 
     aircraft), but retain the wing's expeditionary combat support 
     (ECS) elements, the 251st Combat Communications Group (ANG) 
     and 269th Combat Communications Squadron (ANG) in place, and 
     relocate the wing's firefighter positions, which will move to 
     Rickenbacker Air Guard Station, OH.


                   SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JUSTIFICATION

  The decision to realign Springfield-Beckley's F-16s and not replace 
force structure at Springfield-Beckley is based on considerations of 
military value and all other available information. Buckley (64) and 
Lackland (47) have higher military value than Springfield-Beckley 
(128), and Buckley has a role in the homeland defense mission. This 
recommendation optimizes the squadron size at Lackland, the only ANG F-
16 Flying Training Unit. While not currently tasked with a homeland 
defense role, Des Moines (137) is located within the specified response 
timing criteria of a homeland security site of interest. The 132nd 
Fighter Wing, Des Moines International Airport Air Guard Station, will 
assume a role in the air sovereignty mission.


                           COMMUNITY CONCERNS

       The Springfield-Beckley, OH, community criticized several 
     Mission Compatability Index (MCI) scores, claiming Air Force 
     use of a one-size-fits-all approach is inherently biased in 
     favor of large active-duty bases and the base's status as an 
     F-16 formal training unit (FTU) should have exempted it from 
     data calls pertaining to standard weapons storage 
     requirements. DoD's military value scores reflected neither 
     the base's mission nor mission requirements. According to the 
     community's analysis, accurate data reflecting pavement 
     quality, range space, training capacity, and maintenance and 
     logistics capacity would have resulted in a significantly 
     higher score. In addition, community representatives argued 
     DoD failed to account for costs associated with replacing 
     pilots and maintainers who would not move to the proposed 
     location. They contended DoD completely ignored their 
     proximity to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the 
     possibility of a community-basing program at Beckley. They 
     felt that if quantitative military value analysis results did 
     not satisfy the Air Force, ``military judgment'' was 
     arbitrarily applied to justify the BRAC proposal. Last, the 
     community expressed concerns about the 291 direct and 149 
     indirect jobs that could be lost, adding that they knew the 
     F-16 would go away at some point but questioned if it was 
     prudent to retire it so soon.


                          COMMISSION FINDINGS

       The Commission found that the Department of Defense 
     recommendation to realign Springfield-Beckley Municipal 
     Airport Air Guard Station should be supported even though the 
     military value criteria were flawed and the realignment will 
     be a cost instead of a savings to the Department. This unit 
     is a training squadron for the F-16. There are currently two 
     other Flying Training Units (FTUs) in the Total Force. The 
     Commission agreed that with the total number of F-16s being 
     reduced in the Air Force, the training requirements will be 
     reduced commensurately. The Commission established an F-16 
     wing at Buckley AFB, Colorado and at Lackland AFB, Texas. 
     This recommendation is consistent with the Commission's Air 
     National Guard Laydown plan.
       This recommendation directing aircraft movement and 
     personnel actions in connection with Air National Guard 
     installations and organizations is designed to support the 
     Future Total Force. The Commission expects that the Air 
     Force will find new missions where needed, provide 
     retraining opportunities, and take appropriate measures to 
     limit possible adverse personnel impact. The Commission's 
     intent is that the Air Force will act to assign sufficient 
     aircrew and maintenance personnel to units gaining 
     aircraft in accordance with current, established 
     procedures. However, the Commission expects that all 
     decisions with regard to manpower authorizations will be 
     made in consultation with the governor of the state in 
     which the affected Air National Guard unit is located. Any 
     manpower changes must be made under existing authorities, 
     and must be made consistent with existing limitations. 
     Some reclassification of existing positions may be 
     necessary, but should not be executed until the Air Force 
     and the state have determined the future mission of the 
     unit to preclude unnecessary personnel turbulence.


                       COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS

       The Commission found that the Secretary of Defense deviated 
     substantially from final selection criteria 2 and 5, as well 
     as from the Force Structure Plan. Therefore, the Commission 
     recommends the following:
       Realign Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Air Guard 
     Station, OH. Distribute

[[Page E2233]]

     the 18 F-16 aircraft assigned to the 178th Fighter Wing (ANG) 
     to meet the Primary Aircraft Authorizations (PAA) 
     requirements established by the Base Closure and Realignment 
     recommendations of the Secretary of Defense, as amended by 
     the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
       Establish 18 PAA F-16 aircraft at the l40th Wing (ANG), 
     Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado.
       Establish 18 PAA F-16 aircraft at the 149th Wing (ANG), 
     Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
       Establish a contiguous enclave for the 178th Fighter Wing 
     (ANG) sufficient to support operations of that unit, 
     including flight operations, and compatible with joint use of 
     the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport as a civilian 
     airport.
       If the State of Ohio decides to change the organization, 
     composition and location of the 178th Fighter Wing (ANG) to 
     integrate the unit into the Future Total Force, all personnel 
     allotted to the 178th Fighter Wing (ANG), including the 
     unit's Expeditionary Combat Support (ECS) elements, will 
     remain in place and assume a mission relevant to the security 
     interests of the State of Ohio and consistent with the 
     integration of the unit into the Future Total Force, 
     including but not limited to air mobility, C4ISR, Information 
     Operations, engineering, flight training or unmanned aerial 
     vehicles. Where appropriate, unit personnel will be retrained 
     in skills relevant to the emerging mission.
       This recommendation does not effect a change to the 
     authorized end-strength of the Ohio Air National Guard. The 
     distribution of aircraft currently assigned to the 178th 
     Fighter Wing (ANG) is based upon a resource-constrained 
     determination by the Department of Defense that the aircraft 
     concerned will better support national security requirements 
     in other locations and is not conditioned upon the agreement 
     of the state.
       The Commission found that this change and the 
     recommendation as amended are consistent with the final 
     selection criteria and the Force Structure Plan. The full 
     text of this and all Commission recommendations can be found 
     in Appendix Q.

                        OHIO NATIONAL GUARD--HURRICANE SUPPORT JOINT TASK FORCE BUCKEYE I
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Unit                              Mission                       Missions/Quantities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               ASSISTANCE PROVIDED
Army Units:
    JTF Buckeye I........................  Patrols....................  363
                                           Distribution...............  84
                                           Outreach/Tailgate            93
                                            Distribution.
                                           Traffic Control Points.....  64
                                           Static Security............  65
                                           MRE Distribution...........  755,600 MREs
                                           Water Distribution.........  301,170 Gallons
                                           Louisiana Superdome          8,000 Evacuated
                                            Security.
                                           Citizen Evacuation.........  52 Evacuated
                                           Deceased Identification....  31 Deceased Identified
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
                                                                                                         Cargo
                              Unit                                 Missions     Sorties    Personnel     Moved
                                                                                             Moved      (tons)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Units:
    179th Air Lift Wing.........................................          44         116        1227         291
    121st Air Refueling Wing....................................           9          20         379          30
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
      Total.....................................................          53         136        1606         321
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


   OHIO NATIONAL GUARD--HURRICANE SUPPORT JOINT TASK FORCE BUCKEYE II
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Missions/
              Unit                      Mission           Quantities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Assistance Provided
 
Army Units:
    JTF Buckeye II..............  Distribution......  101
                                  Meals (MREs/Box     3,725,568 Meals
                                   Meals).
                                  Water.............  2,862,872 Gallons
                                  Ice...............  3,694,080 pounds
                                  Escort Security...  80
------------------------------------------------------------------------


 
                                                                                                         Cargo
                              Unit                                 Missions     Sorties    Personnel     Moved
                                                                                             Moved      (tons)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Units:
    179th Air Lift Wing.........................................           3           8          75          31
    121st Air Refueling Wing....................................           3           6          96          11
      Total.....................................................           6          14         171          42
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                                                                      

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