Alabama Braces For BRAC
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Alabama is bracing for a new round of military base closings and realignments.
Maxwell Air Force Base made it through the last round in 2005, but what about this time?
The 908th airlift wing has flown C-130’s for over 50 years.
Most of that time has been spent at Maxwell Air Force Base.
As chairman of the state’s
“They, like all military bases, will come under the scrutiny of BRAC. So our job is to do everything we can to prepare the 908th to be a strong partner, to stay here and hopefully attract some more missions,” said Lt. Gov. Ivey.
The airlift wing already has a lot of missions. Not only does it train at Maxwell, it provides support to bases from Fort Benning in Georgia all the way to Little Rock Arkansas.
“Not only do we do airlift here, we have security forces, we have maintenance personnel, we have logistics personnel, we have medical personnel, and all those folks tied to a airlift mission or not get deployed throughout the United States and through the world,” said commander of the 908th, Col. Adam Willis.
Congress ultimately decides whether to start another round of realignments and closures. It can have a big impact on a community if the government chooses to move a base.
“Well, we don’t know when it’s coming, but we know it’s coming. Congress could authorize it pretty soon and then it would come. So we just don’t know. The name of the game is to identify possible opportunities for improvements or strengths and get those done,” said Ivey.
“Well we’re well established. We’re one of very few flying organizations in the state of Alabama. We do bring a lot of economic impact and feel not only to the state but also the local community,” said Col. Willis.
The 908th estimates it has about a $70 million impact on the river region.
Maxwell as a whole totals around one billion dollars.
