Nevada officials confident Nellis will remain open

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 | 8:50 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada may know by Friday if the Pentagon has decided to close any military installations in the state.

Nevada's congressional delegation and other officials have said they are fairly confident that the Defense Department will not close Nellis Air Force Base and military facilities in Indian Springs or Fallon, but nothing is certain until the list comes out.

The Pentagon is set to release its recommendations for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process by Friday, just before the scheduled deadline of May 16.

Nellis and the Fallon Naval Air Station each have fighter schools for their military branch and encompass 22,000 square miles of training ranges. Nellis is also home to the Air Force demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds.

Fallon, in Northern Nevada, is home to the "Top Gun" Naval Fighter Weapons School, which left California in 1996.

The military announced in March that the Indian Springs Auxiliary Field will serve as the center for the coordination and tactics development for the military's unmanned aerial vehicles.

"I'd fall right out my chair if one of those were on the list," said Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, the adjutant general of Nevada. "I really don't know how they would replace them.

"I've got to believe they would be the last thing ever on a BRAC list."

Vanderhoof worked on Nevada's Military Advocacy Commission, created by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. The commission recommended Gov. Kenny Guinn create an office to look out for military installations in Nevada, he said.

A bill to establish the office with $250,000 is before the state Senate Finance Committee. Vanderhoof said the office would not just focus on BRAC but generally serve as Nevada's voice when opportunities for the bases come up.

"It's not intended to BRAC-proof Nevada," Vanderhoof said.

Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada said the base forwarded information that the Pentagon requests from all the bases earlier this year, but he would not say exactly what was sent. He said the decisions are made at the highest levels and the base does not know one way or another until the recommendations come out.

Nellis appeared on a BRAC prediction list put together by Carlton Meyer, editor of www.g2mil.com, a Web site dedicated to discussing military information. Meyer's list, which has been widely circulated throughout the Internet, listed the base for "realignment," rather than closure saying the bases's units "are better off elsewhere." He said the location would be better for a "much need civilian airport."

His listing prompted concerns on several Internet military message boards and chat rooms on BRAC predictions, but the department has dismissed the report since it first came out in 2004.

"There is no official list until Friday," Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said Monday.

Meyer's voicemail said he was out of the country. He could not be reached for comment.

Once the Pentagon issues its list, it will go to the nine-member BRAC Commission for consideration. Former Nevada congressman James Bilbray, a Democrat, serves on the commission. He was recommended by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The commission must forward its conclusion on the Pentagon's recommendations to the president by Sept. 8. The president has until Sept. 23 to accept or reject the recommendations as a whole. If accepted, Congress has 45 legislative days to reject the recommendation or they become binding.