"Bay State wary of Air Force base cuts" February 13, 2012|By Bryan Bender
WASHINGTON - State and congressional leaders are bracing for a battle over a Pentagon plan to strip aircraft from one Air Force base in Western Massachusetts and possibly cut personnel at another.
Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, the largest Air Force Reserve base in the country, is set to lose half the C-5 Galaxy planes assigned to the 439th Airlift Wing, according to an Air Force proposal made public last week.
It's been a fixture 'round h're as long as I can remember.
The nearby Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield is expecting details as early as this week about personnel cuts at Air National Guard bases nationwide.
Bay State officeholders are scrambling to determine the potential economic impact. Massachusetts officials say the bases are an important source of jobs in the western part of the state. Together they accounted for nearly 5,000 Air Force-related jobs in 2011, according to statistics compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division....
That's the allegedly antiwar western part of the state?
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"N.E. lawmakers vow to fight base closings" January 27, 2012|Bryan Bender, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - New England lawmakers yesterday disparaged a Pentagon proposal to reduce its facilities nationwide, with several vowing to join forces to protect Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford and other installations from Maine to Connecticut.
The Obama administration revealed its request for another round of base closings yesterday on top of its overall plan to slice $487 billion from projected military spending over the next decade. Also included in those cuts, mandated by Congress, were plans to trim pay raises for troops and benefits for retirees and to reduce production of coastal patrol ships.
The proposal to create another Base Realignment and Closure Commission - whose job is to select which facilities to close - prompted bipartisan criticism. Lawmakers asserted that the military facilities underpin a vital part of their local economies and help secure the country. They also contended that the country cannot afford the upfront costs required to shutter the sites....
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Related: Hanscom contract workers face cuts
Massachusetts could lose 50,000 jobs in decade
Also see: Empire Benefits New England
Does it really?
