Posted on 06/27/2014 1:17:08 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — With a 60-day public comment period underway, the U.S. Army is looking for feedback on a plan that would cut 2,700 jobs at Fort Huachuca as part of an overall force restructuring that will bring troop levels down from more than 570,000 soldiers, to 420,000 by 2019.
The revelation that 2,700 positions may be cut from the local post was first announced in March by Maj. Gen. Robert Ashley.
“For Fort Huachuca the planning (reduction) numbers are 1,700 military and 1,000 civil service (positions). Again, it is not the (approved) number but part of the planning assessment which will take place over a period of five years,” Ashley said in an interview with the Herald/Review earlier this year. Ashley commands the Army Intelligence Center of Excellence and the fort.
In this case, the numbers are “installation-wide,” meaning they include all the military organizations on the post, he said.
What is about to happen is what occurred in 2013 when a similar review involving the fort and 20 other Army installations was done, to include taking comments from the public, the general said.
Later this year, public comments will be taken as part of assessing 30 Army installations, including Fort Huachuca, with Ashley estimating remarks will be taken in the summer. The Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), will allow area community and business leaders, and the general public, to comment on any environmental or socio-economic impacts such a reduction will have, Ashley said.
The 2013 program helped the Army come to decisions involving a strength of 490,000 active duty soldiers, but with the potential that the Army will have to cut another 70,000 soldiers to reach the projected 420,000 end strength in the next five years, the PEA is needed, Ashley said.
The Army officially announced the PEA in the ederasl Register on Thursday, listing 24 Army posts, four loint base operations and a consolidated garrisson sactivity, facing cuts o0 1,000 or more military and civilian positions. The comments have to be filed by Aug. 25.
The 2013 program helped the Army come to decisions involving a strength of 490,000 active duty soldiers, but with the potential that the Army will have to cut another 70,000 soldiers to reach the projected 420,000 end strength in the next five years, the PEA is needed, Ashley said.
If for some reason another sequestration has to be done in Fiscal Year 2016, there could be even more reductions needed, Ashley said.
But for now, the process is aimed at meeting the 420,000 soldier limit by 2020, he said.
While “for planning purposes” the fort has a total reduction of 2,700 — soldiers and civil service positions — it doesn’t mean all of them will be cut, Ashley said.
Fort Huachuca is Cochise County’s biggest employer and the eighth-largest employer in Southern Arizona, with 5,717 soldiers and civilian employees not counting contractors, according to the 2014 Star 200 survey of the region’s major employers.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, whose 2nd Congressioal District includes Fort Huachuca, said besides the economic hit to Sierra Vistas, Cocise County and the state, it will impact missons on the fort which are important to national security in the intelligence, cyberspace and unmanned aerial vehicles arenas, which cannot be reduced.
Kevin Peterson, president of the Fort Huachuca 50, an fort support organization, said the area’s economic security is important, “just as important, the fort is doing the work today that our military will need to win tomorrow’s battles.”
Fort Huachuca is Cochise County’s biggest employer with 5,717 soldiers and civilian employees. If the maximum cuts are made, it could cost the area $193 million in income and $209 million in sales annually.
How much could they save if the cut out the BS.
” Army Intelligence Center of Excellence”
You just don’t understand.
We don’t need all of these intel weenies.
You only need intel if you want to WIN.
That money will be needed to care for the new immigrants who are now in South America. No sarcasm at all!
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