BRAC and Forth

There is still hope for the 183rd Fight Wing jets staying in Springfield. Although the federal base closing commission has not yet voted on the fate of the 183rd, it has turned down one of the major base closing requests submitted by the Bush administration:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The national base closure commission voted Wednesday to save the U.S. Navy's submarine base in Connecticut, sparing about 8,000 jobs there.

I think this is important because it reveals that the BRAC is not going to automatically go along with all the Bush administration recommendations. Having said that, there is some ominous news:

However, as it began final voting Wednesday with lightning speed, the nine-member panel agreed with Pentagon proposals to close several other major bases elsewhere and, overall, approved many of the recommendations made by the Army and the Navy.

The panel agreed with closing Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson in Georgia, Fort Monroe in Virginia, Army Garrison Selfridge in Michigan and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.

The panel also signed off on closing nearly 400 Army Reserve and National Guard facilities in dozens of states, creating instead new joint centers.

Much of the Army's proposal was approved in minutes and as a package.

That wording worries me. My fear is that the 183rd is too small for any serious consideration. That is, the BRAC members may not deliberate on the merits of each individual base closing or restructuring but instead give a thumbs up or down on "packages". This has been my fear all along; we just don't amount to enough to get any serious consideration.