Volunteer panel works to save military bases

Jace Radke

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

A volunteer commission designed to lobby for Nevada's military bases started preparing Monday for the Defense Department's review and possible closure of some military bases nationwide.

"We have to make sure that the community and Congress understand that the bases in Nevada are not expendable," said Randy Black Sr., head of the Nellis Air Force Base Support Team and chairman of the new Nevada Military Advocacy Commission. "The unmanned Predator units were born and bred in Nevada, and bunker-busting bombs were also tested here.

"We understand that, as we continue to move toward new technologies, we can't have all the bases across the country we have now. We have to find places to save money and put toward technology."

The bases in Nevada, including Nellis Air Force Base, are unique and will play key roles as new military technology comes into play, said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who formed the new commission.

"There is nowhere else that can offer the airspace that pilots need," Gibbons said, referring to the 2.9 million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range northwest of Las Vegas. "We now have aircraft like the F-22 that are supersonic at cruise, and you need a lot of space for something moving that fast."

Gibbons said the state's military installations -- including Nellis, its auxiliary base at Indian Springs, the Naval Air Station at Fallon and the Hawthorne Army Depot -- appear safe from closure based on recently published Defense Department criteria that will determine which military installations it will recommend for closure or mission changes.

Bases will be reviewed and subject to possible closure next year through the Base Realignment and Closure process, known as BRAC.

Eight criteria will be used in reviewing bases, but the priority will be given to a base's "military value," which include its current and future capabilities on training, warfighting and readiness, the availability of land and facilities, as well as cost.

Environmental impact, the economic impact on the local community and how a local community can support the base will also be considered.

Gibbons said military bases employ about 17,000 Nevadans, and that annually $900 million in salaries and $350 million in contracts are due to the bases' presence in the state.

Through separate BRAC rounds in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995, the department closed 97 bases and conducted 55 realignments as well as 235 minor closures and realignments, according to the department's press office.