BRAC Process

[Nelson Atwell]

What's up with this? The panel decides to keep a base open, but moves its mission away? What will the base personnel do -- raise turnips?

 

[user 62785]

Sounds pretty typical for the BRAC commission... They're trying to appease the DoD, Congress, and the President by their actions.

 

[Johnny O]

Wouldn't want our elected officials to actually have to make a decision, yaknow.

 

[Rose Medlin]

I grew up with Cannon AFB being part of my life. I can't understand what the BRAC commission is doing to an already severe job market problem in the area, with doing away with this base they might as well just say Clovis will be a ghost town in 2010 when they completely shut down the base.

They appointed a committe of 9 to decide the fate of these military institutes, but when it came down to Cannon, four voted for it, three against it and two abstained. The two who abstained should have made the out come null and void, then had another vote on the decision of the base with 100% participation from the BRAC commission.

I guess it upsets me because I know how bad the economy is in this small town of about 35,000, not to mention having three military retired brothers living there.

 

[Larry Gamble]

I'd guess...Cannon is being mothballed so in four years they can have another round of BRAC and close Luke AFB. Phoenix has grown right up to the fences and they get tons of pressure to restrict their operations.



It seems they are keeping a viable relocation for Luke AFB.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I sympathize with the residents of Clovis, but if the base serves no useful purpose, there isn't a reason for the taxpayers of this country to continue maintaining it. The mission at these two bases is finished. Spending resources on the base is a drain on the budget of the US military, and it reduces the ability of the forces to fight wars. In short, it weakens our country's defenses.



IN addition, Cannon, like Ellsworth, are both locations that are eligible for stabilized tours in the Air Force. If a person is in the military and is basically tired of moving around all the time, they can choose this option, and they are guaranteed not to move for four years. They are two of only a handful of bases which qualify for this status. There is also a regulation that prevents someone from being sent to these places after a remote tour, because it would be considered a hardship.



Why do they qualify for this? Because almost NO ONE wants to go to these places. I knew a guy that begged to go to Korea WITHOUT HIS FAMILY to get out of an assignment to Cannon. Why would he do this? Because in Korea, he knew he could go to some place nice after a year. If he went to Cannon, he could be stuck there indefinitely. As far as Air Force members are concerned, getting sent to Cannon is equivalent to being sent to Greenland was back in the old days. Many decide to quit the military rather than take an assignment there.

 

[Rose Medlin]

Have you ever been stationed there to justify your comment or is it just hear say?

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Never been to the base, but I have been to Clovis several times. It is a convenient place to stop and stretch my legs before the last desolate section of road on the way to my brother's house in Roswell. I saw all those "Operation Keep Cannon" signs when I was there last time.



As far as the regulations, I have seen them because I was getting tired of moving so often. When I found out the choices I had, I decided to volunteer for Korea instead. I had a wonderful time in Korea. I have Clovis to thank for that.

 

[Larry Phillips]

Clovis doesn't sound that bad. It could be worse, I could be stuck at Minot.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I've actually heard a lot of folks say Minot is a great base to raise a family. I guess it really matters what a person is looking for. I have enjoyed every one of my assignments, except Hurlburt Field in Ft Walton Beach. One of the happiest days in my career was the day I left that place. I hated my job, the people I worked with, my apartment, my neighbors, and the location.

 

[Ray McIntireJr]

From what I've heard they are all over the place on their decision making process. The Rock Island Arsenal is only about an hour or so north of were I live and the news said that they were doing this to save money but some of their decisions are going to end up costing more money because they, meaning the Dept. of Def. are going to have to spend millions of our $ to build new buildings. Sounds like typical politics at work here. Politicians that are buddies moving jobs(both military & civilian) out of states to get back at politicians that aren't freinds.:angry:

 

[Rose Medlin]

Larry, we know many people who have loved their assignments at Cannon and have friends stationed there now who really like it. We also were stationed at different bases, let me tell you D-M in Tucson is the total pits. They didn't like the military there and made it known. Every time I went to apply for a job and they found out I was a military family member I got shot down. That they wanted employees who were going to be there permanently. That had to have been the worst assignment that we had. Barring being from Clovis, I would have gladly gone to Cannon, the people in Clovis really cater and care for their military people.

 

[Larry Gamble]

The worst place I experienced for dislike of the military was Rantoul, Illinios. The base was Chanute AFB and was the main training local for aircraft and missle maintainers. That base was on closed during the BRAC in 1988. Talk about a town that went from hating the military to claiming they loved us! Bunch of hypocritical jerks. Restaurants or businesses that would not accept a local check from me suddenly proclaimed we were their best customers.

 

[Larry Phillips]

I'm really happy in Wichita, they like the military for the most part, but with the aircraft industry as the main market there, they worry more about that economically than McConnell (except when the BRAC comes around) We have our corner of Wichita...

 

[Dale Carlson]

What Nelson was saying about Cannon only reflected what other's have said about the place. A couple of years ago, Air Force Times conducted a survey of the best and the worst AF bases to be stationed. Cannon was at the bottom - and AF Times did find that, at least with the people they interviewed who had been stationed there, that they would rather be on a remote assignment than at Cannon.



BTW, Nelson, Hurlburt Field was at the top of the list (maybe not the same year when Cannon was last). I was there for a total of 14 years (6 and 8 years), and LOVED it.



Different strokes for different folks, I guess.



Dale

 

[Larry Gamble]

I worked with folks who were miserable in Germany...miserable in Charleston, SC...miserable in Warner-Robins, GA...heck, misery seemed like their prefered state of mind.



There are just some folks that you can't please no matter what. I bet they'd b!tch if you hung them with a new rope. They want NYC or LA or any other big city entertainment and can't find ways to entertain themselves. At Shaw AFB, there were beaches 3 hours away, decent skiing in mountains about four hours away, and three nice lakes for water skiing within 90 minutes. Still, I heard more troops complain about nothing to do because there "wasn't a hopping bar scene" for them. It seems all they wanted to do was X-box and bar hop.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I know what you guys are talking about. I hear people complain about nearly every base I have been at. I approach every base as something new and exciting, and loved even the places that many people don't like. I loved Turkey and Korea, and I loved the Azores so much that I canceled an approved assignment to Hawaii.



What I didn't like about Hurlburt, was my boss. I had worked for the guy previously in the Azores, and we didn't agree on anything. He wound up getting in trouble there because of me, and decided to make it his goal in life to get me out of the military when I followed him to Hurlburt.



I also had a neighbor (female) that thought she could knock on my door any time (even at 2 am) if she heard me walking around (my apartment was above hers). Most guys would probably not complain having a woman knocking at your door at 2 am in a bathrobe, but I had no interest in her. My other neighbors were even worse. They moved down from Alabama with about a dozen of their kin (apparently their trailer burned down). They would sit at the bottom of my stairs drinking beer and smoking, in their underwear. None of them had jobs. Apparently, all of their trash wouldn't fit in the apartment, so they had much of it on the porch. They also beat the heck out of the doors on my brand-new car with their POS white pickup.



Whenever I decided I had enough of Ft Walton Beach and wanted to leave town, I would have to drive 1-1/2 hours just to get to an interstate. I'd have to drive eight hours to get anywhere close to civilization (Orlando, Dallas or Nashville) I felt more remote in Ft Walton Beach, than I ever felt in the Azores (I was on an island 9 miles by 14 miles long, surrounded by 900 miles of ocean in all directions) :blink:

 

[Timmy-The-Ute]

I'm against BRAC. What happens to military bases is a political matter thus the people need to be more able to hold politicians accountable. BRAC just gives politicians a way to dodge this accountablity. We close bases to save money in the military, because we are cutting spending there. I say increase spending.