Tennessee gains under base-closing recommendations
The Nashville-based 118th Airlift Wing would lose its eight C-130H aircraft and most of its employees under the Defense Department plan, but it would not be shut down.
That left officials wondering what an Air Guard unit would become without its planes.
“What’s got us mystified is they’ve taken our airplanes. That tells us that somewhere they’ve got another mission in mind for the 118th, but we don’t know what that is,” said retired Col. Don Deering, executive director of the Tennessee National Guard Association.
After the Pentagon suggested distributing the aircraft to facilities in Illinois and Kentucky and cutting 191 military and civilian jobs, several members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation said they would lobby for the unit.
“There are more steps in the process where we can and will work together to advocate for our Nashville-area Air Guard,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Among the other Defense Department recommendations for Tennessee were adding more than 1,000 jobs to a naval facility in Millington, Tenn.; pulling an attack aviation battalion from Fort Campbell, Ky.; and closing a U.S. Army Reserve facility in Kingsport, Tenn.
The Naval Support Activity Mid-South, located 20 miles north of Memphis in Millington, would gain 372 military jobs, 601 civilian jobs and 88 positions for civilian contractors — increasing the installation’s population by about a third.
Formerly an aviation technical training base for sailors learning aircraft mechanics and related trades, the installation was downsized in the 1993 round of base closures.
But when the training center moved out, it gained a new life as a personnel center. The Pentagon report said the recommended additions would make it a “Navy Human Resources Center of Excellence.”
“Anytime we have 1,000 additional people, I would say that’s going to have a tremendous impact,” said Frank C. Ryburn, executive director of the Millington Industrial Development Board.
Fort Campbell’s attack aviation battalion would be sent to Fort Riley, Kan., to help create a multifunctional aviation brigade, the Defense Department reported. Though the battalion includes more than 550 soldiers, that loss will be partially offset, said George Heath, a spokesman for the base.
The base would gain an Armed Forces Reserve Center and soldiers from the 52nd Ordnance Group, based at Fort Gillem, Ga., a facility the Pentagon has recommended shutting down, Heath said. He said it was not clear how many soldiers would be added to the base.
“It will have minimum impact at Fort Campbell,” Heath said. “The communities probably won’t feel it in ways of revenues.”
But the loss of the aviation battalion could potentially hurt the region around Hopkinsville, Ky., and Clarksville, Tenn. The area could lose as many as 748 direct and indirect jobs between 2006 and 2011, according to the Pentagon report.
Gov. Phil Bredesen said he was concerned about any plan to cut troop numbers from state installations.
“Rest assured that we will work closely with our congressional delegation to press the Pentagon on this point,” he said in a statement.
The Pentagon’s list will go to an independent nine-member commission that will review and potentially revise the suggestions before making final recommendations to President Bush by September.
Most — but not all — of the Pentagon’s suggestions have been included in the final list in the past four rounds of closures.
Defense officials recommended merging three Kingsport, Tenn., facilities — the Armed Forces Reserve Center, Organizational Maintenance Shop and Army Maintenance Support Activity — into a new facility on Kingsport’s Holston Army Ammunition Plant. The move would eliminate 32 jobs.
Two Army Reserve Centers in Chattanooga would be similarly merged into the city’s Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant, though no job loss was reported for that move.
U.S. Sen. Bill Frist said he was concerned about recommendations for the “outstanding facilities and superb personnel” at the Nashville and Kingsport installations, and said the commission should consider realigning assets to Fort Campbell, rather than moving them out of state.
“I’ll work hard to ensure the full value and merits of these facilities, and the unyielding support they receive from the surrounding community, are taken into consideration before any final decisions are made,” he said.
Two other small Tennessee facilities — the Air Guard stations at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa and Memphis International Airport — are expected to grow. The Alcoa facility would receive 248 new jobs, and the Memphis airport would receive eight.
The 134th Air Refueling Wing based at McGhee Tyson could have its fleet of KC-135s replaced with newer planes, spokeswoman Capt. Lisa Godsey said. The large tankers refuel smaller planes while in the air.