The recent announcement that Travis Air Force Base would be eliminating 58 civilian jobs and moving 35 military positions to other bases should serve as a wake-up call to local leaders. If Solano wants to keep -- much less grow -- the base's $1.5 billion annual contribution to the local economy, it's time to resume advocating on its behalf.
It was a united advocacy that helped ensure Travis's survival a decade ago, when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was downsizing the military footprint then.
Solano's local representatives joined the state's entire congressional delegation and stood behind an effort to protect as many California bases as possible. The governor organized a Council on Base Support and Retention, and the Legislature lobbied on its behalf.
Locally, leaders from all seven Solano cities joined forces with those from the county, the Solano Economic Development Corp., Solano Community College and other government agencies and private interests. They formed the Travis Community Consortium whose purpose was to protect the base's interests locally and in Washington, D.C.
Travis emerged from those BRAC hearings on solid footing. It is also poised to survive this current round of cuts, as the Pentagon attempts to reduce its spending to 2010 levels and shave off $450 billion during the next decade.
Of course, if the Congressional Super Committee fails to do its job, the military may be required to cut another half-trillion dollars, and who knows what that might mean.
As long as Congress is determined to reduce the nation's $14 trillion deficit, the military shouldn't expect to be spared completely. Certainly no one objects to the elimination of unnecessary services or duplications of efforts. But local leaders are in a position to encourage the Pentagon to look to Travis as the logical place to headquarter units when consolidations occur.
Among the reductions announced by Travis earlier this month, for example, is the Pentagon's decision to deactivate the 615th Contingency Response Wing and put it under the command of the 621st Contingency Response Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. Similarly, the 15th Expeditionary Mobility Task Force's headquarters at Travis is being deactivated and its military positions will be transferred to other bases. In all, 35 active-duty military members will be moved to different missions or bases.
Presumably, though, it might have been just as easy to deactivate other groups and bring their headquarters to Travis. That's the kind of pitch the local air base needs to have made on its behalf.
It won't be easy, though. The BRAC process was done publicly, but the legislation that authorized it has expired. Decisions are once again being made behind Pentagon walls, with little or no warning to Congress, much less local officials. Ensuring that these decisions are made in the open is the first thing local leaders should push for.
So far, the job losses announced at Travis have been relatively small. Most of the 58 civilian jobs being cut are coming out of the 60th Force Support Squadron and the 60th Civil Engineer Squadron, and many are being accounted for through a hiring freeze, attrition and retirements. They represent only 3.6 percent of Travis' 1,600 civil service positions. Meanwhile, the military positions being reassigned account for less than 0.5 percent of the base's 10,000 uniformed employees.
But there is no reason that Travis should have to lose any positions. It's location as the gateway to the Pacific, combined with the ongoing effort to modernize its facilities, should make it a base to which the Air Force wants to add missions.
It's time for all Solano leaders to come back together and resume the effort to remind the Pentagon of that.
It was a united advocacy that helped ensure Travis's survival a decade ago, when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was downsizing the military footprint then.
Solano's local representatives joined the state's entire congressional delegation and stood behind an effort to protect as many California bases as possible. The governor organized a Council on Base Support and Retention, and the Legislature lobbied on its behalf.
Locally, leaders from all seven Solano cities joined forces with those from the county, the Solano Economic Development Corp., Solano Community College and other government agencies and private interests. They formed the Travis Community Consortium whose purpose was to protect the base's interests locally and in Washington, D.C.
Travis emerged from those BRAC hearings on solid footing. It is also poised to survive this current round of cuts, as the Pentagon attempts to reduce its spending to 2010 levels and shave off $450 billion during the next decade.
Of course, if the Congressional Super Committee fails to do its job, the military may be required to cut another half-trillion dollars, and who knows what that might mean.
As long as Congress is determined to reduce the nation's $14 trillion deficit, the military shouldn't expect to be spared completely. Certainly no one objects to the elimination of unnecessary services or duplications of efforts. But local leaders are in a position to encourage the Pentagon to look to Travis as the logical place to headquarter units when consolidations occur.
Among the reductions announced by Travis earlier this month, for example, is the Pentagon's decision to deactivate the 615th Contingency Response Wing and put it under the command of the 621st Contingency Response Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. Similarly, the 15th Expeditionary Mobility Task Force's headquarters at Travis is being deactivated and its military positions will be transferred to other bases. In all, 35 active-duty military members will be moved to different missions or bases.
Presumably, though, it might have been just as easy to deactivate other groups and bring their headquarters to Travis. That's the kind of pitch the local air base needs to have made on its behalf.
It won't be easy, though. The BRAC process was done publicly, but the legislation that authorized it has expired. Decisions are once again being made behind Pentagon walls, with little or no warning to Congress, much less local officials. Ensuring that these decisions are made in the open is the first thing local leaders should push for.
So far, the job losses announced at Travis have been relatively small. Most of the 58 civilian jobs being cut are coming out of the 60th Force Support Squadron and the 60th Civil Engineer Squadron, and many are being accounted for through a hiring freeze, attrition and retirements. They represent only 3.6 percent of Travis' 1,600 civil service positions. Meanwhile, the military positions being reassigned account for less than 0.5 percent of the base's 10,000 uniformed employees.
But there is no reason that Travis should have to lose any positions. It's location as the gateway to the Pacific, combined with the ongoing effort to modernize its facilities, should make it a base to which the Air Force wants to add missions.
It's time for all Solano leaders to come back together and resume the effort to remind the Pentagon of that.
