[CPEO-IRF] "Bases aren't easily shut down"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Bases aren't easily shut down

By DALE EISMAN
The Virginian-Pilot (Hampton Roads, VA)
August 1, 2005

WASHINGTON - Closing a major military base like Oceana Naval Air Station 
would be a mammoth undertaking, costing hundreds of millions of dollars 
and requiring thousands of carefully choreographed moves by the Navy, 
civilian contractors and government officials, according to those who 
have gone through it.

It's like moving Disney World – Orlando to Dallas, while keeping the 
Orlando rides going," said John Leenhouts, a retired Navy captain who 
helped bring dozens of F/A-18 Hornets – plus pilots, crews, families and 
even pets – from Cecil Field, Fla., to Oceana in the late 1990s.

Aviators and crews are not allowed a break from overseas missions and 
deployments while they relocate at home, he said.

Leenhouts said the Cecil-to-Oceana transfer required months of careful 
planning, not unlike that of a Navy air wing for a major strike against 
a critical wartime target . If the Navy leaves the Virginia Beach site, 
local officials would face a different but equally complex set of 
challenges in trying to move in, said Herb Smetheram, a Florida-based 
consultant to communities dealing with military base redevelopment.

...

For the entire article, see
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=90004&ran=173666&tref=po


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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