Kansas in good shape on list of base closings

Ammunition plant only state facility closing; 33 major installations cut

Washington ? The Pentagon spared major military bases in Kansas and Missouri from closing on Friday, but cuts at smaller installations in Missouri would cost the state more than 3,600 military and civilian jobs.

As stunned Missouri lawmakers vowed to fight the recommendations made by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Kansas officials hailed the Pentagon’s decision to return the Army’s 1st Infantry Division to Fort Riley and provide thousands of new jobs in the state.

Known as “the Big Red One,” the 1st Infantry Division was based at Fort Riley for about 40 years before its headquarters moved to Germany in 1995, leaving behind the 1st Brigade. Under Rumsfeld’s plan, the division would return to the base near Junction City, bringing nearly 3,000 new military and civilian personnel.

The list of base realignments and closures, or BRAC, was delivered Friday morning to members of Congress. It is part of Rumsfeld’s plan to save money and make the military leaner to meet post-Cold War needs.

“While its only the beginning of the process, the list released today goes a long way in removing the BRAC cloud that has long loomed over the state’s military installations,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gains in Kansas include 211 new military personnel at Fort Leavenworth north of Kansas City and 247 military and civilian jobs at Forbes Field, near Topeka. Forbes also would get 12 KC-135 Air Refueling tankers, four more tankers than it previously had.

At McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, the 184th Air Refueling Wing faces a transition, flying fewer missions but gaining new missions in intelligence and homeland security. The Kansas National Guard’s 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell will grow from 31 to 49 tankers. Overall, the base will gain 677 military personnel and lose 155 civilian jobs.

“The real noteworthy piece of information today is that McConnell Air Force Base is now the largest supertanker base in the middle of the United States,” said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., at a Wichita news conference.

The biggest lost in Kansas will be closure of the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons. The plant, with 167 employees, will move its operations to four other states. The U.S. Army Reserve Center in Wichita will be realigned, losing 22 military positions and 56 civilian jobs.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., gets a copy of the Pentagon's list of the proposed 150 military base closings Friday from Seaman John Long. The Kansas Army Ammunition plant near Parsons is the only state installation on the list.

Kansas will see a net gain of 3,318 military and 423 civilian employees. Kansas bases stand to receive $248.2 million in new payroll under the BRAC recommendations — the fourth largest gain in the nation, Roberts said.

By contrast, Missouri ranked seventh highest in the number of jobs lost in the BRAC process. The state’s two largest installations — Whiteman Air Force Base near Sedalia and Fort Leonard Wood near Waynesville — will remain intact, but smaller installations and offices in the state were hit hard.

In the largest cut, the Army Human Resources Command would move about 2,000 military and civilian jobs at the National Personnel Records Center in the St. Louis suburb Overland to Fort Knox near Louisville, Ky.

The Pentagon would also close the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Kansas City and St. Louis, shedding more than 900 workers. A number of active and reserve military personnel and recruiting centers in Kansas City, Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, and Cape Girardeau, would be consolidated.

A fighter-jet wing based at Lambert Airport in St. Louis would be moved to Air Force bases in Nellis, Nev., and Atlantic City, N.J. Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said 34 military jobs and 215 civilian jobs would be lost when the 131st Fighter Wing moves. The unit flies F-15 Eagles for the Missouri Air National Guard.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt denounced the proposed job cuts and vowed to fight the closures.

“These decisions will have a significant impact on the lives of thousands of Missourians and I pledge to work with our congressional delegation to reverse these harmful recommendations,” Blunt said.

text Kansas in good shape on list of base closings (05-14-05)text Big Red One to return to Fort Riley (05-14-05)text Base closings could take political toll on candidates (05-14-05)text Chairman: Base closings will hit cities like ‘tsunamis’ (05-04-05)text Kansas braces for base closings (02-28-05)

In a joint statement, Blunt and Republican Sens. Jim Talent and Kit Bond said they will “vigorously oppose these harmful recommendations.”

Overall, Missouri would lose 1,167 military personnel and 2,353 civilian workers. But the St. Louis area was spared from even more losses with news that Scott Air Force Base, across the river in southern Illinois, would remain open, adding 800 jobs.

“I’m absolutely pleased about the bases remaining intact,” said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. “That is the solid good news for the state of Missouri.”

The list now goes to the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, which will prepare its own final list by Sept. 8. It will take five votes on the nine-member commission to take a base off Rumsfeld’s list, and seven of nine members to add a new base.

“While these recommendations are an important step and today is a major milestone, it’s only the beginning of another phase of the BRAC process,” Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told reporters in Topeka.

Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., who’s district includes three major bases, said he and other lawmakers “will now do all that we can to ensure that the final outcome of this process works to the best advantage of our installations and the people of Kansas.”

President Bush and Congress must then accept or reject the list in its entirety by Nov. 7.

States with facilities on Rumsfeld’s list face long odds in getting them off. In the four previous rounds, about 85 percent of bases on the Pentagon’s list were eventually closed.

Missouri and Kansas took different approaches in the months leading up to Friday’s announcement. Kansas budgeted $1 million for an aggressive lobbying effort led by the Kansas Governor’s Strategic Military Planning Commission. Missouri officials, more optimistic about their prospects, left the lobbying to the state’s congressional delegation.

Reaction on Friday in Kansas to military base closing recommendations from the Pentagon:The State’s EffortsKansas officials attributed the state’s good showing partly to a commission Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed last year to lead efforts to keep military installations open.The state provided $500,000 for the commission’s operations and local communities provided an additional $500,000.Sebelius noted that military installations provide more jobs than the state’s top eight private employers combined.In ParsonsState officials acknowledged some disappointment about the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant southeast of Parsons being targeted for closing.”We’d be eager to work with the Parsons community to find ways to make that, hopefully, a less painful situation, whether it’s recruiting a new employer to that area to use that site,” Sebelius said.Parsons Mayor Bill Wheat said the community didn’t want to lose the plant’s 167 good-paying positions but had faced problems before, including an April 2000 tornado.Also, he said, after a regional railroad left town two decades ago, “We learned our lesson. We diversified.”In TopekaLast year, Topeka officials worried that Forbes Field’s military operations would be abandoned. The base south of Topeka is home to the 190th Air National Guard Refueling Wing.”I think the biggest thing we did is, over the last year, show the military value of Forbes and what a great asset it is to the country, and I think that’s what drove the decision,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state adjutant.Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten said the recommendation adding military and civilian personnel at Forbes might lead to other economic activity.In WichitaRep. Todd Tiahrt, whose congressional district includes Wichita, said McConnell Air Force Base would become the largest supertanker base in the middle of the United States.As part of the reshuffling, McConnell will move nine KC-135R aircraft and associated manpower to Forbes Field.”This is almost a valiant move on the part of the 184th. They are going to make sure that Forbes Field has a long-term mission, and that facility now looks pretty good at staying open,” Tiahrt said.