Pentagon announces base closures in Europe

[tammywammy]

Source: The Hill

The U.S. military is returning 15 bases and facilities back to their host nations throughout Europe, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

The closures are part of a plan to consolidate infrastructure and save money.

The closures and consolidations will affect facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal.

The closures will save the U.S. $500 million annually, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/228867-pentagon-announces-base-closures-in-europe

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. about time.

Shudda cudda wudda done this 10 years ago, if Cheney hadn't been running things into the ground.

[tammywammy]

5. A few years ago they wanted to close some bases, but were stopped by Congress. n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. I recall that.

The arguments raised by the GoOPers reminded me of expansionist some behind the scenes war-mongers wanting to take over the whirled. Without involving their own skin, spawn or spunk.

[procon]

2. Oh goody, only 647 more to go. nt

[L0oniX]

7. ^^^this^^^

[daleanime]

9. Amen....

[packman]

10. Correct me if I'm wrong-

But it seems that I read that quite a few of those 647 "bases" are very small and basically just a few buildings warehousing military supplies.

[mountain grammy]

12. +1

[Duckhunter935]

29. do you have a list

how big are they or does a base just need a building or two?

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Part of our peace dividend....yay!

[Thespian2]

4. Subtract 15 bases

and what does the poor U. S. Military have left? Isn't that approximately 647, supported by America's enormous debt?

[Renew Deal]

6. What will the Soviets think?

[SoapBox]

8. Close the bases and open more private golf courses.

[Mr.Bill]

13. Close every base that has a golf course. n/t

[jmowreader]

25. That would be most of them, including almost every base in the US

[Mr.Bill]

26. I'm sure it would.

I just do not see a national Defense need for there to be golf courses at military bases.

[jmowreader]

27. They're for the morale of the troops, and the troops pay for their operation

This has been discussed repeatedly...here we go again.

There are two kinds of funding for the military: appropriated funds and nonappropriated funds.

Appropriated funds come from Congress, which means they come from you and I. This funding source pays for things like planes that don't work, ships the Pentagon didn't ask for, field rations no one likes, fuel, ammo, troop housing...all the things the military "must" have to operate.

Nonappropriated funds are called "profits" in the civilian world. A golf course has greens fees, a pro shop and a bar & grill, all of which charge the troops who choose to use them. A crafts shop charges a fee to use it. Youth sports has a fee. Those fees are kept low enough that the facility breaks even, and if they DO turn a profit that money has to be turned over to Army Emergency Relief or the equivalent in the other services.

Strangely enough, the reenlistment rate on bases that have things like golf courses and family support services is higher than the rate on bases that don't. It doesn't cost the taxpayers anything to have golf courses and the troops like it, so why not?

[Duckhunter935]

30. those little facts do not

matter to some

[Recursion]

32. Yeah, and no TVs in the barracks

Because, you know, they don't actually need entertainment ever

[Aristus]

35. Morale and recreation programs are a very important part of military life.

It isn't just about golf. My father, who was career Army, was heavily involved in the theater program of whichever base he happened to be stationed. He starred as John Adams in a highly-acclaimed Army production of "1776" in 1974, a production for which they rented the costumes used in the movie a few years before. My mother, as a dependent spouse, often appeared in plays with him, and she directed the church choir, which was made up of volunteers from the community.

Morale and Reacreation also sponsored Dependent Youth Activities, a program that offered things like swimming lessons, T-ball, judo, arts and crafts, and other activities to the children of service members.

I suppose we could insist that our soldiers live a spartan, monastic existence during their time of service. But it wouldn't reflect the importance of one of the cornerstones of our military: the Citizen Soldier; a member of the nation and the communities he defends.

[tabasco]

36. You're not going to get drafted, are you?

That's because we have volunteers.

[gladium et scutum]

28. Why?

Nothing wrong with a golf game to relax. Just ask the current President of the United States.

[NV Whino]

14. Who needs bases when you have drones?

[Recursion]

31. The drones have to land somewhere (nt)

[NV Whino]

34. Spoil sport

[Beowulf42]

15. And?

We need a corresponding decrease in the military budget, right? That's the way things work in the real world. We don't need to take away funds from bases overseas and add them to the war-making ability of the American military. GO PEACE.

[bigbrother05]

20. This is the DoD's response to the sequester that is already in place

this lets them keep up troop strength and get new weapons too.

[freshwest]

33. Sequester going forward, yes it is.

[Victor_c3]

16. $500 million is just a drop in the bucket

but it is progress. $500 million amounts to less than 1/10 of 1 percent (less than .1%) of the military budget

[olddad56]

18. I'm surprised that the govt can run 15 overseas military bases for a year on $500 million.

They were blowing more than that a day in Iraq. I didn't even think they could buy a hammer for that little.

[Victor_c3]

21. I am kind of out of it so maybe I misunderstood the article

but I believe they were just going to move the existing troops and equipment to other bases. So the closure of those 15 bases really isn't a decrease at all in our military capability or size.

[tclambert]

17. But we have to defend Portugal from . . . uh, some kind of . . . invasion, maybe?

When have American troops ever, ever been needed in Portugal?

[geardaddy]

19. ...

[Baclava]

22. List of planned changes in Europe:

The changes will mean a slight reduction in overall force levels, but troop numbers in Europe are expected to hold near the current level of 67,000.

United Kingdom

Divest RAF Mildenhall:
• Returns the installation and four supported sites to the United Kingdom.
• DOD intends to relocate the operational units at RAF Mildenhall within Europe — the assigned KC-135s and the 352nd Special Operations Group to Germany and the assigned RC-135s within the U.K. This paves the way for the stationing of two squadrons of F-35s at RAF Lakenheath, starting in 2020.
• Divest RAF Alconbury/RAF Molesworth: Consolidation of missions allows the permanent return of RAF Alconbury, RAF Molesworth and supporting sites to the United Kingdom. The majority of U.S. personnel, and many of the U.S.-funded host nation positions assigned to these bases will be transferred to RAF Croughton.


Germany

• Close Mainz-Kastel Station — fully returns the site to Germany.
• Close Barton Barracks — fully returns the site to Germany and relocates the Department of Defense Dependents Schools Bavaria district office to Grafenwöhr.
• Partially close Pulaski Barracks in the Kaiserslautem area — returns part of the site to Germany.
• Close Weilimdorf warehouse site — returns the site to German control.
• Close two Baumholder waterworks — returns control to Germany.
• Relocate HQs DISA-Europe from Stuttgart to Kaiserslautem.
• Close Amelia Earhart Hotel in Wiesbaden.
• Partially close Artillery Kaserne in Garmisch — returns two-thirds of the site to Germany.
• Restructure the Army Air Force Exchange Services bakery and water distribution operations at Grünstadt.
• Close Husterhöh Kaserne in Pirmasens — returns the site to Germany.
• Relocate mail sorting/distribution from German Aerial Mail Terminal in Frankfurt to Germersheim Army Depot — efficiencies and personnel moves only.
• Create a distribution center of excellence at Germersheim Army Depot.
• Consolidate various communication data centers across EUCOM.
• Close commissaries at Illesheim and Sembach, as well as the four commissaries in Stuttgart at Kelley Barracks, Patch Barracks, Panzer Barracks and Robinson Barracks, once a new replacement store on Panzer is constructed.
• Consolidate Defense Media Activity operations across Europe.
• Consolidate communications, postal services and personnel management that support the U.S. mission to NATO and the U.S. military delegation to the NATO military committee.

Belgium

• Divest leased site in Brussels — Consolidation of U.S. facilities in Brussels to Sterrebeek.

The Netherlands

• Divest Schinnen Emma Mine leased site, Netherlands and consolidate U.S. facilities at Brunssum.

Italy

• Place a portion of the Pisa Ammo Storage Area, near Livorno, into caretaker status.
Partially close Camp Darby near Livorno. Returns about half of the installation to Italy.
Convert the Vicenza Health Center to outpatient and specialty care only.

Portugal

• Streamline operations and property at Lajes Field — Reduces active duty, civilian personnel and contract providers by two-thirds. A number of the buildings at Lajes will also be returned to Portugal.

http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/raf-mildenhall-to-close-amid-other-europe-consolidations-1.322825

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. My early childhood was spent on bases overseas. When we rotated back the states I was 8...

after a few months I grew increasingly puzzled and finally asked my parents if we could go visit the German, Italian, and English military bases here in the U.S. It never occurred to me that we would have a military presence elsewhere, but foreign countries would not have their own here.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. Cool. They can buy one more F-35 that won't work.

[christx30]

37. Great. Now Germany and Italy are going to start stuff again.

The last time we didn't have bases there, they started WWII.

The illogical, alarmist view is fun. And we also need to do something about the Lambada. It's too sexual of a dance move!