Military base closure worries rise

The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce today will hold meetings to develop a strategy to protect Fort Jackson and McEntire Joint National Guard Base during $150 billion in Defense Department cuts over the next five years.

Chamber chief executive Ike McLeese said while there have been no direct threats to those Richland County bases or their missions, the community should be prepared to argue to the Pentagon and White House the advantages of the two bases.

"If this administration is intent on taking [more than] $100 billion out of the operating budget of the Department of Defense, you have to be careful you don't get whacked," he said. "You have to be on guard."

Studies have shown Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, Fort Jackson in Columbia and McEntire in Eastover pump $7.1 billion a year into the Midlands economy. Military installations around Charleston add an additional $4.7 billion a year to the state's economy. Beaufort's three installations add $1.2 billion a year, according to the reports.

South Carolina was hit hard by 1990s base closings, losing the Charleston Naval Base and Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

In 2005, however, the Midlands did well, adding new missions for Fort Jackson and the Third Army to Shaw, resulting in 2,500 new military and civilian jobs.

There have been indications the Defense Department might conduct another round of base closures in 2015, decided by an official Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC. Currently there is no base-closing commission.

Still, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this month ordered the military to find $150 billion in cuts by 2015.

To keep the momentum of the Midlands bases' gaining -- rather than losing -- business because of realignment, the chamber has invited its military lobbyists from the Rhodes Group to conduct today's briefings.

"They did an excellent job of advocating for Jackson and McEntire in the last round of BRAC, evidenced by the fact that Jackson picked up three new missions and McEntire not only remained open, when many had written it off and gone, but picked up a new mission as well," McLeese said.

Firm chief executive Barry Rhodes told The State newspaper last week that the community should be proactive.

"A lot of people wait until the sword of Damocles has fallen on them before they act," he said from his Washington, D.C., office. "But to those who are prepared, new missions come."

Susann Edwards, a Rhodes group vice president and Greenville native, added: "Whenever there is a loser in BRAC, there is a winner. And we want to be a winner."

Another challenge to the Midlands and South Carolina is the loss of U.S. Rep. John Spratt. Spratt, defeated by Republican Mick Mulvaney, was the second-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the House Budget Committee.

With Spratt's defeat and the departure of three veteran Republican congressmen, four of South Carolina's six congressmen are freshmen. That lack of seniority will weaken the state's clout in military matters, experts have said.

"It always hurts to lose a senior member of the Armed Services Committee," Rhodes said, adding U.S. Reps. Joe Wilson of Springdale, a Republican, and Jim Clyburn of Columbia, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham of Seneca and Jim DeMint of Greeneville "have been active in the past and will be critical in the future."

Most at risk, experts have said, is McEntire. During the last round of base closings, there was fear it would be combined with nearby Shaw, as both bases are home to F-16 squadrons.

"Standalone Guard bases are something we have to keep an eye on," Rhodes said. "We need to be aggressive on McEntire."