Some thoughts on base closures and reorganization

As if I needed it, I now have another reason to dislike Rumskull and his Department of Defense. Wichita Falls is home to Sheppard Air Force Base. Sheppard is not being closed, but if the Pentagon has its way, Sheppard will lose 2624 jobs which will be transferred to other bases.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said that some of these job transfers make no sense, particularly those that involve fighter training and maintenance. She noted that the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be built in Fort Worth and Sheppard is the closest Air Force base to Fort Worth. The job transfer might make some sense if the jobs were going to Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, but the jobs are going out of Texas.

Senators Hutchison and Cornyn have a press conference scheduled on Sunday here in Wichita Falls, and I'll update this post in light of that meeting.

I also want to focus on the proposed closure of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. That base is South Dakota's second largest employer, and new South Dakota Senator John Thune campaigned heavily on his claim that he would be in a better position than his opponent to keep Ellsworth open. His opponent was Tom Daschle, who was #1 on the GOP's hit list. It is going to be interesting to see if Ellsworth stays on the closure list once Congress has the final vote. If it stays on the list, Thune will have been screwed by his own party.