A $611 billion defense policy bill that is before the U.S. Senate this week could mean good news for Columbus Air Force Base and all other U.S. military installations.
The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 on Dec. 2, and an appropriations bill that will provide the funding for the NDAA passed the committee level in June and is expected to come before Congress shortly.
If the Senate passes the NDAA as expected, it would mean CAFB could not be closed in a Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) round.
“There will be no BRAC this fiscal year,” said Department of Defense spokesman Mark Wright.
Nancy Carpenter, executive director of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau and an honorary wingman in the Columbus Wingman Award program, said Columbus rallied around the CAFB in the 1990s when it was in danger of being closed during a BRAC round.
“I remember at one time, there was a threat of our base closing, and we worked hard…fighting to keep the base alive,” she said. “I remember the city coming together more during that time than almost any other time, joining arms and saying we are going to fight to keep our base here.”
Neither Sen. Thad Cochran nor Sen. Roger Wicker’s spokesmen could confirm whether the CAFB would have been on the closure list if a BRAC round were authorized in this fiscal year.
“I know that in previous BRAC rounds…that several of the military installations in Mississippi were looked at and, in the end, were shown to be worth the investment that the nation is putting in them in their support for national security,” said Cochran’s spokesman Chris Gallegos.
The Pentagon has not been successful in recent years in getting Congress to approve a BRAC round, despite the Army and Air Force having excess space for training and basing troops.
The last BRAC round was in 2005. There are four pilot training bases in the U.S., with CAFB training about a third of the nation’s pilots.
CAFB Chief of Public Affairs Sonic Johnson declined to comment about the NDAA and what it would mean for the Air Force base, pass or fail.
Base impact
Carpenter said preventing the closure of the CAFB is important to Columbus, not only from an economic standpoint, but from a social standpoint as well.
She said of the nearly 15,000 visitors who come through the CVB annually, at least one a week is visiting in connection to the base.
In addition to the military employees, the base employs many civilians, she said, making up a large portion of the population in the Golden Triangle area – filling schools and churches and providing a great many community volunteers.
“They certainly do so much more for us than we ever could do for them,” Carpenter said.
The CAFB generated $249.6 million of economic impact in fiscal year 2015, according to a previous Dispatch report.
The report, which covered the Base Community Council’s first meeting of 2015, included that 1,500 military personnel and 1,300 civilians are employed through the base, and even more indirect jobs are produced because of the base.
Improvements to CAFB
In that meeting, Col. John Nichols, former commander of the 14th Flying Training Wing at CAFB, set forth a strategic plan to correct a “‘critical deficiency’ the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) identified — a deficiency that, if left unchecked, could affect the base’s very existence.”
The plan included improvements to the CAFB.
The base currently has several improvement projects, including renovations to the commissary.
Johnson did not respond with a list of further improvements by press time.
The bill
In addition to rejecting the Pentagon’s plan to perform a new round of military base closures, the NDAA stipulates several other hot-topic measures.
According to Associated Press reports, it also prohibits President Barack Obama from closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and moving detainees to secure facilities in the U.S.
The bill also provides a 2.1 percent pay raise to military personnel and includes an agreement that prevents thousands of California National Guard troops from being forced to repay enlistment bonuses and benefits.
It, too, prevents the Army from falling below 476,000 soldiers and adds 7,000 service members to the Air Force and Marine Corps.
AP also reported the legislation includes $5.8 billion in additional war-related funding Obama asked for last month, including $2.5 billion to maintain elevated U.S. troop levels of 8,400 in Afghanistan. About $383 million would pay for air strikes against Islamic State militants.
Sen. Wicker’s spokesman, Ryan Taylor, said the bill also provides for items that are less prominent in national attention, like everyday resources needed for training at the CAFB.
“Sen. Wicker, along with Sen. Cochran, works to make sure Mississippi bases are strong, well-equipped and that they have the resources they need to do their jobs, and that, in turn, helps protect them from any potential closings,” Taylor said. “One of the more important things is that it ensures student pilots have adequate training and flying hours. It authorizes the needed resources and tools so they can do their jobs and keep Americans safe.”
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