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Closing Bases

MARK RUSSELL: AFTERTHOUGHTS

We are at war and at the same time the Pentagon has ordered the closing of hundreds of military bases. Why is this? Simple. The money saved on bases will go toward recruiting for a bigger army.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...34390%2C00.html

Bases Closing

I understand the logic behind this, but I'm not sure that I agree with it or its inevitable out come. What happens when we build the new army and there is no place to put them? The argument is that they will re open the closed bases to support them. But doesn't that create a never ending loop? With the opening of new bases, how will they pay for the now much bigger army?

Closing Bases History & Civil Business Politics

I doubt that there will be a need for more or larger bases later on. Our military now is much smaller than it was in 1991, and we didn't need all the bases then.

When you consider it in detail, you will notice that by having less bases, there is less need for base support personnel. That means that more of the military personnel will actually be involved in military-type duties.

I am sure that one of the main reasons for our extremely large number of bases has a lot to do with transportation cost from decades ago. During WWI and WWII, it was necessary to have bases all over the country in order to provide support to all the potential targets. Now, a quick response team from Texas could be in Los Angeles or New York in 3 - 4 hours. As our ships have become ever more self-sufficient, it has not been as important for them to be spread out in a lot of ports, since they spend more time at sea.

A huge disadvantage of the reduction in bases is that there are fewer targets, and each target becomes more attractive as there are more military members and more equipment at each. However, when international tensions rise, I am sure that many of the combat units will deploy away from their home bases.

back to the idea of a more efficient military. Quite a few bases were very redundant. So, if there were 100 support personnel in each of 30 bases being closed, that means 3000 people now become available for combat positions. I can almost guarantee that the number is much larger than 3000.

A final point to consider is that we have a lot of bases on foreign soil that need to be closed. Since Germany has proven that they are not friends of the US, I don't see any conceivable reason that we should have any bases there other than (perhaps) Ramstein and Landstuhl. Ramstein mainly as an access to Landstuhl, and Landstuhl because it is one of the best hospitals in the world for casualties of war, not to mention that it is accessible from all of Europe, North Africa, and SW Asia. The Europeans don't want our military there other than to prop up their economies, they certainly don't want an effective military presence, so let's close all those bases.

Bases Closing

In addition to saving money, there is another consideration. I know that the Army has expressed a desire to consolidate different functions at the same base so that they can keep soldiers at the same base for longer periods of time thereby providing more stability for their families. They could transfer to a different unit but remain at the same base.

As far as the bases in Europe, there has been discussion of closing some of them but then opening them in other areas like Poland or Afganistan, etc.

Bases Closing

MORE MILITARY BASES COULD FACE CLOSURE

Military installations in California, Maine and Virginia were added Tuesday to the hundreds that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had already proposed for closing or shrinking.
Ref. https://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/19/base.closings.ap/index.html

Closing Bases

Base Closing Choices Impact Politics

AP - When the Pentagon announced that it wanted to shut down Ellsworth Air Force Base, it was an enormous setback for Sen. John Thune. The Republican got elected in part by repeatedly telling voters he could save the base because of his close ties to President Bush.
Ref. https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...osings_politics

Closing Bases

Seems like they are still opening new bases, interesting that they would look to open up a base here:

ROMANIA TO SET UP U.S. AIR BASES

Romania and the United States will sign a deal Tuesday to set up U.S. military bases in the Black Sea country, the Foreign Ministry says.
Ref. https://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/02...reut/index.html

Closing Bases Politics Business Civil & History

We are a military base town, and there was so much tension right before they announced which bases would be closed. Thankfully, the air force base was not closed here. I don't understand why they would have closed our base since we house the Raptors (I think that's what they're called), There would have been a very deteremental economical effect had the base closed down. Though that may seem slightly selfish on behalf of our town considering everything else that could have been at stake, but it was definately a fear of the city's.