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SlowwHand
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of The Cooler
Sep 1999
time: 23:37
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As the headline says, a historic place.
By David Lawder
30 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A military panel voted on Thursday to close the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which for nearly a century has treated U.S. presidents and soldiers in the U.S. capital, including
Iraq-war casualties.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted 8-0 with one abstention to close the Walter Reed campus and combine its operations with the nearby Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.
The commission approved scores of other
Pentagoncutbacks, but handed a partial victory to Alaska in the day's final vote, rejecting plans to pull all aircraft out of Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks.
The Walter Reed closure will affect 5,630 jobs, with many moving to Bethesda, where a 340-bed hospital will be built, and a new community hospital at Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia. The move will cost nearly $1 billion.
The Washington hospital was established in 1909 and has provided medical care for wounded U.S. soldiers since the First World War. It has treated 4,350 patients from Iraq since the war there began in 2003, including 1,214 battle casualties.
Named for an Army physician who helped cure yellow fever, the facility has also treated U.S. presidents including Harry Truman,
Ronald Reaganand Dwight Eisenhower, who died there in 1969.
Members of Congress, Winston Churchill, the former Shah of
Iranand King Hussein of Jordan also received care at Walter Reed.
The nine-member commission, made up of a retired admiral and generals, former congressmen and other ex-government officials, is reviewing Pentagon recommendations for the first round of domestic base closures and cutbacks in a decade.
The plan aims to save tens of billions of dollars over 20 years and modernize the military to face new threats. Many of the actions involve combining noncombat operations of the Army, Navy, Air Force and reserves, such as medical care, supply and logistics and training.
The commission must submit its changes to
President George W. Bushby September 8. The president and Congress can accept or reject the list but can make no changes.
Among other cuts in the Washington area, the commission approved Defense Department plans to move more than 20,000 jobs from leased office space in the suburbs of northern Virginia to various U.S. military bases, including Virginia's Fort Belvoir and Quantico Marine base.
In San Antonio, the commission voted to close the Wilford Hall Medical Center, shifting its operations to nearby Fort Sam Houston. It also approved the closure of San Antonio's Brooks City Base, which employs 2,923 people, moving its medical and pilot research functions to other Air Force and Army facilities.
In Alaska, the Air Force proposed to move all aircraft and 2,821 jobs out of Eielson, but keep the empty base in a "warm state" for future training exercises. Commissioners said that was impractical and decided to leave 18 F-16 fighters and eight KC-135 tankers at the base, while allowing other planes to move.
STATE OF THE ART
City officials in Washington have argued against the closure of Walter Reed, saying its state-of-the-art care did not need to be replicated a few miles (km) away in Bethesda.
Walter Reed has developed expertise in artificial limbs and in artery and vein repairs. It boasts the Army's only ocularist -- a technician who creates artificial eyeballs.
"This is a place where wounded veterans are brought to recover. There's a real patriotic sense in the neighborhood that we're doing our part in that," said Adrian Fenty, the District of Columbia Council member who represents the area.
He said he would turn his energies to acquiring the 113-acre (45-hectare) property from the federal government and seeing it redeveloped into homes and businesses that could add millions of dollars to local tax revenues.
Commission members said the proposal to combine the Army and Navy medical centers into what would be called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was an opportunity to upgrade the medical care provided to servicemen and women with new facilities.
The commission will consider more Air Force closures on Friday, including the closure of Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota's second-largest employer.
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loinburger
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Sweet Sauce Jones
Jul 1999
time: 00:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
But how does this save any money? |
The official reason for the BRAC is not to save money, it's to "maximize military effectiveness" or something like that. However, they fudge the hell out of the numbers in order to pretend that they're saving money in the process.
Last I heard, the most optimistic (i.e., fudged) estimates say that the BRAC will save the DoD something like $40 billion over the next twenty years, i.e., $2 billion a year out of a $500 billion budget. Color me unimpressed.
quote:
Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Sounds more like they're just relocating facilities and personnel. |
They're not always even doing that much. F'rinstance, my job is moving from Wright-Patt to Rome Research Site. An equivalent job is moving from RRS to WPAFB. Meaning that I stay put and get a job that's moving from RRS, and somebody at RRS stays put and gets my job that's moving from WPAFB. Net savings (on paper): Lots! Net savings (in reality): Nada.
Last edited by loinburger on 26-08-2005 at 16:36
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:37.
Apolyton Time is 00:37. |
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26-08-2005 05:58
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