Back at the Gap

"Back at the Gap"
Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired)

Chamber enlists help to save Gap

37^thin a series

In January 1995, Congress formed a nine member Base Realignment and Closure Commission to review the importance and military value of the military bases from a list that the Secretary of Defense would submit.

On March 1, to reduce costs of operations of designated military bases and to eliminate duplication, the secretary forwarded to the BRAC Commission his list of recommendations of the military installations he chose to close or realign. Among others, this list included the item “Close Fort Indiantown Gap, except for minimum facilities as a Reserve Component enclave.” The Gap was now on the hit list to be considered by the BRAC Commission.

The role of this independent Commission was to review the secretary’s recommendations and to accept, reject, add or change these recommendations for subsequent submission to the president by July 1.

Fortunately, we had been making plans since July 1994 to be able to refute any DOD recommendation against the Gap. As soon as he heard that the Gap was on the list, and knowing the economic impact closure would have on the community, president Stephan Vegoe of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce, immediately went into action. The Chamber’s Military Affairs Committee adopted a slogan “It’s now or never!” and went to work.

Vegoe and I spent March 6 and 7 in Washington, the first day interviewing prospective consultants and the second day attending the Army hearing before the BRAC Commissioners. It was a worthwhile trip because we lined up two outstanding consultants. The first was Brig. Gen. Roger Bultman, former Deputy Chief, Army Reserve, 48 years old, who retired in 1992 after 28 years service, a very sharp individual who knew his way around the Pentagon and Washington.

The other was Jon Kent, a registered lobbyist who, incidentally, had been the speaker at one of the Lebanon Valley Chamber’s Eggs and Issues breakfast some months before. Jon had been a lobbyist for over 20 years and he was also a colonel in the Army Reserve, and was very familiar with the military as well as being a lobbyist. Although neither of these men knew each other before we got them together, the balance seemed exactly right to both Steve and me, and they agreed to combine their talents.

After the Army hearing, General Bultman introduced us to four of the BRAC Commissioners whom he knew and had worked with during his tour of duty in the Pentagon. This was a real plus for us because the name of the game was to influence the BRAC Commissioners personally if at all possible. Of the eight BRAC Commissioners, we needed four votes to get off the hit list. However, being friends with them did not guarantee their votes. Nevertheless, this did provide us with a very positive opportunity.

At a meeting back in Lebanon the following day, the main discussion centered around how we could raise at least $80,000 to hire the two consultants and to cover other expenses. Everyone involved realized the great impact it would have on the economy if the Gap were closed, so there were many who made it possible to raise the necessary funds.

Senator Chip Brightbill arranged to hire General Bultman as a Senate consultant for $25,000. That set the positive mood and we asked the County Commissioners to contribute $10,000 and Mr. Vegoe indicated the Economic Development Corporation would match any amount approved by the County Commissioners.

The Chamber asked its 825 members for a voluntary dues assessment with the view of raising another $25,000. For the balance, we asked the city of Lebanon for $3,000, Schuylkill County $7,000, and Dauphin (Susquehanna Alliance) $5,000. These amounts were based roughly upon the percentage of Gap workers expected to lose their jobs.

Chamber members and local government officials came together in an all- out cooperative effort because all of us were committed to do our very best to prevent the Fort Indiantown Gap closure.

Everyone we contacted realized the financial impact on the local area of the possible loss of 789 jobs and everyone fully cooperated in whatever we asked of them. We couldn’t have asked for better support and coverage than that provided by The Lebanon Daily News, the Merchandiser, WLBR Radio and WLYH-TV. Our activities became a truly community effort which led to a successful campaign.

The tempo picked up. On March 14 we held a combined meeting with the Adjutant General, General Gerald Sajer, and his key staff; key Chamber members, including myself; governmental representatives, including Senator Chip Brightbill, County Commissioners Bill Carpenter and Rosemarie Swanger; a representative for U.S. Congressman Tim Holden; a representative for State Representative Peter Zug; and a number of other interested persons.

An executive committee was formed consisting of Sajer, Vegoe and myself. Subcommittees were formed covering a variety of important areas to be studied and actions developed. General Bultman explained that we must strongly emphasize the “Military Value” of Fort Indiantown Gap by developing a briefing outline and script which can be used when the executive committee and others present our case to the BRAC Commission.

We met with the workers from the installation and we answered many questions. Lt. Col. David Cook, the Garrison Commander, gave us a briefing about the orders he had received to develop an implementation plan for closure and submit it to his higher headquarters. This plan was to identify all dollar costs for the closure.

Based upon our study, it was the chamber’s position and the Department of Military Affair’s position that closure would not result in cost savings of $23 million as the Army claimed.

When the Army evaluated the military value of the Fort, it did not include the extensive amount of military value provided by the Guard and Reserve. Thus the Army erroneously assumed in its report to the Secretary of Defense that the base operations costs were only for the support of the Garrison. But in reality, almost 100 percent of the $19 million spent by the Garrison (while it did pay for the Garrison’s expenses) supported the Reserve Component training.

We received word that BRAC Commissioner Al Cornella would make a site visit to Fort Indiantown Gap on April 10 so all our plans were directed in preparation for this visit. This was a very significant event in our process and was a very important opportunity to explain our position to him. We made very elaborate plans to welcome him to the Fort, to include a high school band, lots of people waiving flags, government officials, etc. Bill Carpenter made plans for this event. We were developing a positive briefing for Mr. Cornella.

Meanwhile, the employees at Fort Indiantown Gap organized to assist us wherever possible. They developed a call up list to pass the word as events unfold. This effort proved to be very helpful for the site visit.

General Bultman and Jon Kent visited the Gap on March 21 and 22. These consultants met with Vegoe and me and with Sajer and his BRAC task force to outline strategy and develop an agenda for a meeting we called for on March 21 at the Grantville Holiday Inn. Gap employees were invited as well as all the key players. This was a very important planning meeting and very informative.

These BRAC proceedings are an important and critical part of Fort Indiantown Gap’s history and caused a tremendous impact on the Fort and the employees. Due to space limitations, I am dividing the recounting of this BRAC event into two articles, the second part of which will be published in two weeks on April 20.

Published in the Wednesday, April 6, 2005 edition of the Lebanon Daily News

© 2005 Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author.

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