Service Leaders Divided on Closing Bases to Cut Costs | Military.com: The Army is adamant: It needs to close bases to save money, and it needs to do it now. The Air Force may also be open to the idea, but other services are not so sure.
Before the Senate Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on readiness Wednesday, the vice chiefs of the military services made well-worn cases to lawmakers for more money and an end to sequestration budget caps that they say have cut into maintenance and efforts to modernize the military.
And a round of base closure and realignment, or BRAC, may provide a solution for some.
Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, asked the officers to provide their perspective on BRAC, warning at the same time that he firmly opposed such a measure.
"I've been through every BRAC round, [six] of them. And without exception, every BRAC round in the first three years costs money," Inhofe said. "If there's ever a time in the history of our military that we can't afford to dilute those dollars … we need to resolve the problems that have been talked about today."
Gen. Daniel Allyn, vice chief of staff for the Army, nonetheless maintained the service's position that it needed a BRAC round, and soon.
