Taps For Old Bases

By Jacob V. Lamar

At the first early warnings last October that the Pentagon might shut down a number of obsolete military bases, communities across the U.S. launched pre- emptive strikes against the plan. The issue had less to do with military utility than with economic survival. In areas where the local economy depends on the payrolls of soldiers and civilian employees, citizens and public officials pleaded with Washington to spare their installations from extinction.

Despite the anticipatory howls, the Defense Secretary's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure last week recommended 86 military bases for termination within the next six years. The Pentagon figures that shutting them down, while partially closing five more and realigning 54 others, will save $693.6 million a year. In the short run, the closings will result in the elimination of 24,000 civilian jobs. But Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, estimates there ultimately will be a net loss of only 8,000 nonmilitary positions.

Though they included such historic military sites as New Jersey's Fort Dix, there is no question that the bases on the commission's roll call had outlived their strategic purposes. San Francisco's Presidio army base, for example, was once a crucial Pacific outpost where officers were trained during World War I. Today the Presidio, with its tree-shaded trails and historic architecture, is a popular tourist destination. Illinois' Fort Sheridan processed 500,000 soldiers during World War II. These days, the base is most famous for a lush golf course.

While Congress recognized the need for the closings, lawmakers were gun-shy about the protests they were certain to provoke. So the legislators found a way to face the issue without having to make the painful choices themselves: they passed a bill endorsing the creation of a twelve-man bipartisan commission that would decide on the sites for closure. The commission submitted its recommendations to Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci last week; both he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were reportedly prepared to approve them. The list will next go to Congress where it must be considered on a take- it-or-leave-it basis. Hence, lawmakers from affected communities can blame the closures on the commission.

Despite all the hand wringing, base closings often do less harm than good to a community. A Pentagon study found that among 100 base closings between 1961 and 1986, civilians lost 93,424 jobs but gained 138,138 new ones when the installations were turned to other uses. Communities across the country have found imaginative ways to transform the old bases. Forty-two former Pentagon airfields have become local airports. When the government closed Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., eleven years ago, 700 civilian jobs vanished and the surrounding community in the Upper Peninsula lost 33% of its population. Today an industrial park at the old base site provides work to four times as many civilians as Kincheloe employed. Success stories like these give credence to the view of Republican Congressman Dick Armey who authored the legislation on installation shutdowns: "There is indeed life after base closings."

With reporting by Bruce van Voorst/Washington