It was on the front page of Saturday's Daily Press.
Area's bases likely to survive closings
They get high marks in critical areas
By Michael Fabey and Stephanie Heinatz
Daily Press
December 27, 2003
The Defense Department released this week a draft of its criteria for coming base-closing considerations, and Hampton Roads military installations - particularly those on the Peninsula - appear to enjoy some high marks in critical areas.
The criteria emphasize what the Pentagon calls joint war-fighting capabilities and training - the ability for different types of weapons and service members to conduct operations together. Military installations here have long boasted that capability.
Local military officials won't comment on the base-closure process, but they acknowledge some of their installations' strengths when matched up against the announced draft criteria.
"We already have a broad joint mission," said Cindy Your, a spokeswoman for Fort Eustis, a hub of military transportation. "Transportation is a very joint activity in the Department of Defense."
Congress now has about a month to comment on the draft criteria. In spring 2005, the Defense Department will make its official recommendations for closures.
The Pentagon will grade military installations on each of the following:
Current and future mission capabilities and the effect on the readiness of the Defense Department's forces, including the effect on joint war fighting, training and readiness;
Availability and condition of land, facilities and associated airspace at existing and potential locations;
Ability to mobilize;
Cost of operations and personnel implications;
Economic effect on existing communities;
The community infrastructure's ability to support forces, missions and personnel; and
The environmental effect of any move.
As Your said, the transportation services that Fort Eustis provides help joint war-fighting missions. Those services also help give the installation high marks on the mobilization criterion.
Fort Eustis, one of the Army's 15 "power-projection platforms," shares its acreage with units from every branch of the military. One of the most deployed units in the Coast Guard, Port Security Unit 305; a Marine Corps training unit; and an Air Force weather detachment are just a few of the 80 tenant units with joint missions based at Eustis.
Being a power-projection platform might be Eustis' strongest asset against this round of base closures. Projecting power means that the post has the ability, for example, to load trucks onto trains and get them to ports for shipping - making it one of the Army's hubs whenever there's a big deployment.
Fort Eustis also projects power by mobilizing reserve units when they're called up. More than 2,800 reservists left Eustis to support the war in Iraq. And 500 more are preparing to deploy to the Middle East.
Many of the Air Force's assets mobilized through Langley Air Force Base before, during and after the recent big military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Langley also will be the operations home for the Air Force's new F/A-22 Raptor jet fighters, the linchpin of the Air Force's combat strategy, which includes a significant joint war-fighting capability.
The Raptors could be moved to another base, but the Air Force is investing millions of dollars for training and maintenance sites for the new jets - all of which work in Langley's favor, according to the draft criteria.
With no real "forces" of its own to muster for war, Fort Monroe often has been identified as a target for a base closure. The Army Training and Doctrine Command - TRADOC, which analyzes and formulates military strategy - is there, but those people could be moved to other bases.
Yet, Fort Monroe officials talk of the proximity to other Hampton Roads installations, giving them access to high-ranking officers - and giving those officers access to TRADOC officials and others at the post.
Few other places could offer such proximity and access to service brass as Hampton Roads, including Air Combat Command at Langley and the different fleet commands at Norfolk Naval Station.
Of all the installations, Norfolk Naval Station probably has the most obvious safety nets against base closure. The base serves as home not only for the various Navy warships and accompanying personnel but also for the Joint Forces Command, a spearhead agency for the U.S. joint war-fighting strategy.
Michael Fabey can be reached at 247-4965 or by e-mail at
mfabey@dailypress.com Stephanie Heinatz can be reached
at 247-4760 or by e-mail at
sheinatz@dailypress.com
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-33158sy0dec27,1,4132959.story
And the military guys! Wheeeeeeeeeeew! I could just faint! 
Much better than the choice I have here. Too many senior citizens in this area. Give me the military guys any day! 
And Homestead's base has been closed for years, right? In VA's paper a couple days ago, the front page mentioned closing bases! While we have guys in Iraq!!!??? Certainly hope they don't close my friend's base! 
If they do, he may not be in VA Beach too much longer. 
