Construction update: latest aerial shots

Check out the latest aerial shots of our construction site – lots of progress!  
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To move or not to move

From the July issue of Soldiers Magazine, by Elizabeth M. Collins

THE 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, better known as BRAC, is many things to many people.

To Congress, the Department of Defense and Army leaders, BRAC is an important tool to save money and realign forces and capabilities for the future. To a lot of Soldiers, it’s just another move. But to many Army civilians who are accustomed to putting down roots and building 20-year careers at one installation, it can be both scary and devastating.

The decision to move or not move with a job is difficult and profoundly personal for the 22,294 Army civilians and countless Soldiers and family members affected by BRAC. It is a decision dependant on many factors such as school-age children, ailing parents, spouses’ jobs and the current housing market.

New opportunities

Based on past BRACs, the Army only expects about 30 percent of employees to move with their jobs, although Dr. Susan Duncan, the assistant G-1 for civilian personnel, said she hopes this round will be different, as the experience and skills those civilians have are important to the Army. She said the current job market is actually leading more employees to seriously consider moving.

Duncan encouraged everyone to at least try and visit the new locations before making up their minds. She speaks with the experience of a former Army wife who made many unwilling moves. She remembered being horrified at the idea of moving to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., but said she ended up loving it. She added that the Army’s phased approach to the moves has also helped, as employees who have already moved call back to tell their colleagues how wonderful the new duty station is. There might be a lower cost of living, better schools, shorter commutes and more recreational activities near the new installation.

“Learn everything you can about what your command is offering you and what it really means,” she said. “What is the new place really like? If you can’t go or don’t want to go, okay, understood. We will do everything possible to get you another position. Just give it a fair shot and approach it with an open mind.”

Duncan pointed out that the moves would open new positions and promotion opportunities as a result of vacancies left by employees who will decide not to move. She added that if the expected 70 percent of employees remain behind, that would equal about 46,816 new personnel actions, including more than 30,000 for recruitment and hiring.

Job exchanges

The DOD and the Army have several options available for employees who either don’t want to move or don’t have a choice because their garrison is closing. First, Duncan said, they’re looking at a job-exchange program, especially in cases where each spouse is employed by different tenant organizations that are going in different directions.

In one case at the Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va., a TRADOC employee nearing retirement switched positions with a mid-level garrison employee whose job was disappearing, for example. He still gets to retire and she will stay employed and move with TRADOC to Fort Eustis, Va. It’s a win-win situation, and Duncan said job exchanges could also be used in cases where an employee might not be able to go to, say, Fort Knox, Ky., but may have an elderly parent near Fort Benning, Ga., who needs care.

New employment

Of course, job swaps wouldn’t work for everyone, and not every BRAC-affected employee is ready to retire or even eligible for early retirement. Duncan said it’s up to the local command whether to offer Voluntary Early Retirement Authority or Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay. The two programs are really to offset the effects of a reduction in force and she said the Army doesn’t want to lose people.

“The Army has invested a great deal of its heart and soul in those people and conversely, those people, great patriots, have invested a great deal in this nation through the Army,” added Col. Jim Balocki, chief of the BRAC division in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. “So it’s really our desire that with every position that moves, we would like to be able to move the person with it.”

Because that isn’t feasible, the Army will take care of the employees who won’t, can’t or don’t have the option to move, said Duncan. That means offering resume-writing and interviewing classes, job-retraining programs and career fairs.

And it also means making use of the priority placement list program, an important tool to keep DOD employees within the DOD, said Shelia Dent, chief of the employment policy division at G-1 (Personnel). Most BRAC-affected employees will be eligible to register for the program a year before the expected move date.

At that point, civilian personnel representatives will meet with employees interested in the PPP to explain the registration process. They will help employees identify up to four additional job series they might be well-qualified for based on previous assignments or collateral duties. Ultimately, it’s up to employees and they can also pick geographic locations as narrow as the Pentagon or Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. They also have the option to register for positions one or two grades lower than their current assignments, with grade retention and saved pay for about two years.

According to Dent, there are three rungs of priority in the PPP. Employees who are losing their jobs within 60 days have first priority for DOD jobs that meet their criteria. Next are employees losing their jobs a year or two out, followed by employees who have already been through PPP, but had to take a lower grade. They are third on the priority list for jobs with their original grades. Civilians can stay on the PPP for up to a year after being separated.

They also have the option of the federal-wide Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program, and civilians who meet the criteria can participate in both programs. Dent said that employees must have a reduction-in-force letter with separation date before they can participate in ICTAP. Instead of registering for a program that would automatically match them to jobs, under ICTAP, civilians must identify openings on www.USAJOBS.gov and other sites and identify themselves as ICTAP-eligible on their applications.

Married Army civilians are facing a situation military couples know all too well: their spouses’ lives and careers are also turning upside down with BRAC. And with rising unemployment, some employees are concerned about whether their spouses will be able to find jobs if they move. Duncan said there will be many vacancies for which spouses can apply, and that the Army is considering special placement programs like the military spouse preference program.

“I think there certainly will be enough vacancies that we’ll be able to accommodate most of our spouses who are looking for employment with the federal government,” she said.

Housing assistance

Another major concern employees have in today’s economy is whether they’ll be able to sell their homes and recoup the cost of their mortgages, and the Army Corps of Engineers has two programs to help.

Any Army civilian affected by BRAC is eligible for the Defense National Relocation Program, said David Gage, chief of DNRP, explaining that it assists civilians in selling their homes, and purchases the homes at market value if necessary. Civilians must have authorization for DNRP services on their original permanent-change-of-station orders. The orders can’t later be amended with the authorization.

Once they have orders in hand, employees can go to the DNRP Web site at www.nab.usace.army.mil and download the application form. Civilians must then turn their completed forms over to their human resources offices, which will authorize the services and fax the forms to the DNRP office with copies of the orders. Within three days of receipt, DNRP counselors will call civilians to review eligibility and timing and ensure they’re ready to market their properties, and refer them to relocation-management companies.

After two independent appraisals (the employee selects the appraisers), the employee must actively market his home for 60 days. If he receives a legitimate outside offer within that time, the contractor will purchase the home for that price, and if he does not, the contractor will buy the home for the appraised value. According to Gage, by accepting the buy-out offers, employees incur no selling costs like commissions, transfer taxes or attorneys’ fees.

In today’s market, however, getting the appraised value may not help much. That’s where the Homeowner’s Assistance Program comes in. In past BRACs, HAP has only applied when a drop in home values could be directly linked to a BRAC announcement, said HAP assistant program manager Don Chapman. The program would pay a civilian or a Soldier the difference between his home’s selling price and 95 percent of its value on the BRAC announcement date, or pay off an upside-down mortgage, whichever was higher, and also pay the closing costs. If the employee chose not to market his home or couldn’t sell it, the program would buy it at 75 percent of its value before the announcement date.

That link has been impossible to determine in all but one BRAC 2005 case, Brunswick Naval Air Station, Maine. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—otherwise known as the stimulus—the program was expanded to cover all BRAC-affected civilians, PCSing servicemembers, wounded warriors and surviving spouses.

Final DOD guidance on implementing these changes had not been released at press time. For up-to-date information, please visit the HAP website at http://hap.usace.army.mil/.

“There’s a lot of stress on service families because of (the housing market collapse). We also have civilians who are being required to locate. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is closing most of its offices around the country and moving all these people someplace else. Twenty-two hundred DFAS employees can’t leave their homes because they can’t afford to. Army Materiel Command senior staff said they weren’t going to go to Huntsville, Ala., because they couldn’t afford to leave Washington. It definitely is a readiness issue. It’s a quality of life issue for the personnel involved,” Chapman said, adding that he expects the expanded program to help more people in the next six months than HAP has since its creation in 1966.

Employees need someplace to live on the other end as well, so DNRP offers the free Destination Home Search program to all DOD employees. No orders are necessary, and all Soldiers and civilians have to do is call 1-800-344-2501, to discuss their needs with a counselor who will ultimately refer them to local, experienced realtors.

“If an employee seeks home-finding assistance on their own initiative, they really only represent one single transaction to that agent. Whereas if they’re referred through a relocation-company relationship…those relationships represent a valuable flow of business of qualified home buyers from whom the real estate company derives a lot of revenue,” Gage explained, also noting that because mortgage lenders generally consider government employees good credit risks, the program can often help employees find more favorable mortgage terms.

The bottom line is that whatever employees decide, the Army plans to support them and help them begin the next phases of their lives. As September 2011 approaches, employees can relax and remember that whatever decisions they make, they’ll be the right decisions for them.

What happens when a post closes?

UNDER the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, the Army is scheduled to close 13 depots, ammunition plants and headquarters—including Forts McPherson, Ga., Monroe, Va., and Monmouth, N.J. —and 387 reserve-component facilities. All of these locations must undergo a prescribed re-use process.

First, the Army must ensure that no other federal agencies want the property, said Col. Jim Balocki, chief of the BRAC division in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. If no other agency wants it, the Army will open it up for sale or for use by local communities.

The communities form official re-use authorities, whose boards may include local mayors, members of the community, and the garrison commander. For example, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority has all of these, as well as advisors from the state of New Jersey. Members of the public can air their ideas and concerns during public meetings, and eventually the authorities develop plans for re-using the closing installations.

The re-use plans must meet specific criteria, such as a certain percentage of housing for the homeless, and the protection of any historic landmarks. The re-use authorities then submit their plans to the Army for approval, because the Army wants to ensure compatible use of the property.

The process can take years. On the Sept. 15, 2011 closure date, the Army won’t walk away, lock the doors and hand the keys over to new owners. Instead, skeleton caretaker staffs will remain as the Army prepares to turn the property over. Balocki said he has properties from the 1988 BRAC that are still on his books, for example. This is often because of environmental concerns.

In the mid-20th century, Balocki explained, the Army, and the nation as a whole, didn’t know what we know now, that it was harmful to dump or bury chemicals, for example. So the Army has to evaluate and remediate those properties, unless the new owner agrees to do so as part of the sale.

“We invest and have been investing for many years on ensuring properties from previous rounds of BRAC are clean, clear and ready to use, and we have had some success. Some of them, though, are pretty nasty. We’ve got some that have required years of investment and will require years more,” Balocki said.

He noted that a former industrial ammunition plant might never be appropriate for a residential community, but that it could have other uses. A movie studio recently made the winning bid on an old 78-acre engine plant in Connecticut that still needs some environmental remediation. The studio is willing to do the remediation, Balocki said, because they plan to use old tank platforms as ready-made sound stages.

“The thing that’s really sad about this is the way the acronym BRAC lines up. The last word in BRAC is closure, so that’s kind of the thing that rolls off the end of your tongue: closure. But in fact, this is more about the ‘R’ or the realignment part and transformation than it is about closure. Because at the end of the day, the closures are pretty minimal in terms of the numbers compared to the previous four rounds. This is really about how we’re going to transform our Army, bring parts of it home from overseas, and how we’re going to shape the civilian workforce in the future,” he concluded.

BRAC QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Civilian Assistance and Re-employment Division – CARE is a DOD organization responsible for administering the Priority Placement Program. www.nab.usace.army.mil/dnrp/

Defense National Relocation Program – DNRP is a DOD program designed to facilitate the sale (or buy) employees’ homes at their old duty stations, and help them find homes at their new duty stations. www.nab.usace.army.mil/dnrp/

Department of Labor/State 1 Stop Center – When DOL and states pool resources to establish employment/training centers for employees impacted by BRAC.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program – ICTAP provides that employees adversely affected by BRAC may apply for other Federal vacancies advertised outside of the agency workforce and receive priority consideration if he or she is well qualified. www.opm.gov/ctap/

Homeowner’s Assistance Program – HAP is a DOD program to help Soldiers, civilians, wounded warriors and surviving spouses recoup financial losses when selling their home to PCS and/or move under BRAC. http://hap.usace.army.mil/

Job Exchange – DOD program which permits a retirement-eligible employee of a non-BRAC activity to change jobs with an employee adversely affected due to an activity’s scheduled closure or realignment.

Outplacement Subsidy – BRAC activities may offer an outplacement subsidy as an incentive to non-DOD federal agencies to hire BRAC-impacted employees who accept employment in another geographic area.

Priority Placement Program – PPP is a DOD program for placement of DOD civilian employees who are adversely affected by RIF, BRAC and re-stationing. www.cpol.army.mil/library/permiss/631.html

Reduction-in-Force – RIF is the federal process for reshaping and drawing down the civilian workforce. http://www.cpol.army.mil/library/permiss/631.html

Re-employment Priority List – RPL is the federal program that provides priority consideration for an agency’s position vacancies for employees who were separated from the agency by RIF in the same commuting area.

Three Rs – Recruitment, relocation and retention incentives are delegated to Army activities for use in recruiting new federal employees, offering monetary incentives to current employees to relocate and offering retention incentives to employees who are offered nonfederal employment to remain at an activity for a fixed period.

Transfer of Function – TOF is the total transfer of a line of work from one geographic area to another geographic area where the same line of work is not currently being performed. Employees with TOF rights must be offered TOF if the alternative is separation or demotion. An employee who declines TOF may be separated under adverse-action procedures or included in an ongoing RIF.

Transfer of Work – TOW is the whole or partial transfer of a line of work or specific positions from one geographic area to another. Employees do not have a right to a TOW, but may be directed by management to relocate. Employees who decline are separated under adverse action procedures.

Voluntary Early Retirement Authority – An employee with 50 years of age and 20 years of service, or 25 years of service at any age, may be offered VERA in order to lessen the effect of RIF or to restructure a position as a result of new mission requirements. www.opm.gov/employ/vera/vera01.asp

Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay – VSIP is also called a buyout. VSIP equals the lesser of an employee’s earned severance pay amount and $25,000. VSIP is a tool to lessen the effect of RIF or to restructure a position. http://www.opm.gov/employ/html/vsi.htm

VSIP II – A VSIP that is offered to a DOD employee not impacted by BRAC to create a vacancy for a BRAC-impacted employee.

Other helpful sites:

www.brac.gov
www.hqda.army.mil/ACSIM/brac/BRAC_2005.htm
www.cpol.army.mil/library/general/brac/

Source: The majority of terms are from the “Base Realignment and Closure Smart Book for Commanders.” Others are from interviews with subject matter experts.

BRAC: Balancing people and missions

From the July issue of Soldiers Magazine

Aberdeen Proving Ground

A symbolic milestone was reached at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., this spring with the completion of the exterior of all of the buildings being constructed as part of Phase I of a sprawling campus here, which will eventually contain 2.4 million square feet of office space for well over 7,000 military and civilian personnel and support contractors.

The emerging Army Team C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) campus represents a new beginning for the Army and a once-in-a-generation investment in a Center of Excellence that will be unequalled anywhere in the world.

Part of the Army’s transformation involves Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure initiatives, including the relocation of the Army Team C4ISR mission—comprising the Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command; the Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center; and Army Program Executive Offices for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical and for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors—from Fort Monmouth, N.J., to APG by September 2011.

Army officials broke ground on the new $477 million complex at APG, marking the start of construction of “Phase One” of the campus on March 17, 2008.

Five administration and laboratory buildings, a secure shop and warehouse, an auditorium and a training facility of 1.5 million square feet will be built.

As of March 20, 363 Army Team C4ISR personnel had either relocated or been hired at APG and more than 800 additional personnel will relocate or be hired by the end of this year. Well over 1,000 Army Team C4ISR military, civilian and contractor positions will be located at APG by the end of 2009.

All of the remaining positions are expected to move through 2010 and 2011 as construction of the offices and laboratories on the Phase One and Phase Two campuses are completed. There are also plans for a food court, development of a shore park area and a new childcare facility.

Success in the initial phased relocations to APG has set the conditions for the successful movement of major elements of the command by establishing an initial command and control structure there, Maj. Gen. Dennis L. Via, commanding general of Army CECOM LCMC said.

Looking forward, Via emphasized “we are leveraging BRAC as a catalyst for change…(and to) reconstitute the command and determine what we need to support the future force and capabilities in 2015 and beyond.”

The CECOM LCMC will be using BRAC to transform and enrich its organization, facilities and people. Personnel in related mission and business processes will be co-located in the new campus to provide a collaborative work environment. Labs will complement each other and facilities once spread across several buildings will now be much closer together.

The campus will serve as the new Army CoE for C4ISR with the new mission domains encompassing traditional program management functions as well as research and development, supported by functional representatives from across the life cycle of systems and equipment.

This CoE will include green spaces, vistas and lots of daylight to help develop a more relaxing environment. Employees will have the opportunity to cross train, will have flexible work schedules and will work in decentralized operations in a state-of-the-art information technology environment.

It is anticipated that as many as 1,250 positions will be filled between now and 2011, primarily at APG; and an additional 2,000 vacancies will require recruitment at APG after the full transfer of the mission occurs in 2011.

Current and future vacancies exist in many civilian career fields, including engineering and science; logistics/supply/maintenance; administrative/business; contracting; and information technology. For transitioning Soldiers with skills in these areas, job opportunities will be plentiful. In addition to full performance positions, Army Team C4ISR will be recruiting management trainees as well. Information has been provided to Army Career and Alumni Program offices worldwide and is also available on the ACAP website for featured employers.

As part of its strategy to meet hiring challenges, Army Team C4ISR has extended its outreach efforts to wounded Soldiers, including coordination with the Army’s Warrior Care and Transition Office, which oversees the various warrior transition units. Similar programs also are being utilized such as the Army Materiel Command’s Always a Soldier Program, designed to assist wounded Soldiers in finding jobs.

“Working together, we’ll meet the challenges of relocating our complex mission; and we’ll continue to excel in supporting our nation’s warfighters and overseas contingency operations,” Via said.

—Henry Kearney/Fort Monmouth Public Affairs

Fort Bragg, N.C.

With the turn of a shovel, Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, and Army Reserve Command Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie put into motion the construction of the combined headquarters of the Army Reserve and Army Forces Command in a ceremony, Dec. 8, 2008, here.

The ceremonial ground breaking marked the beginning of the biggest transformation project of the Army Reserve under the 2005 BRAC.

“From an operational standpoint, we are linked at the hip with FORSCOM,” said Stultz, adding the Army Reserve provides more than 200,000 Soldiers for FORSCOM-directed missions around the world.

Stultz said that when the Army Reserve develops rotation plans for support to Iraq, Afghanistan, other portions of the world, plus stateside missions, the two commands already work closely together at Fort McPherson, Ga.

“We’re sitting down with Forces Command and developing the Army Reserve forces we have available. Stultz added that together with FORSCOM and 1st Army, the forces are trained and then deployed.

The new building will contain 600,000 square feet of office space and will house more than 2,700 military and civilian personnel.

“Today is an important milestone,” said Gen. Charles C. Campbell, commander, Army Forces Command. “We’re making a real and tangible step forward.”

Both Stultz and Campbell praised Fort Bragg, Army Corps of Engineers-Savannah District, Fayetteville and North Carolina congressional officials for their efforts in paving the way towards this phase of Army transformation.

“Fort Bragg is going to continue to be at the forefront in even greater ways in terms of what our nation’s military does,” said U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, N.C. 7th District.

The new headquarters will be located at the corner of Knox and Randolph streets and is expected to cost nearly $300 million.

According to Ken Williamson, Army Reserve Command chief executive officer, the construction plan is slated at 1,000 days build time with an estimated completion in the summer 2011.

—Timothy L. Hale/Army Reserve Public Affair

Fort Hamilton, N.Y.

Construction of the Fort Hamilton Armed Forces Reserve Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., is underway and is expected to be finished in two years. The $56-million project will greatly increase Fort Hamilton’s capabilities as a vital component to America’s national security and to New York City’s frontline defense.

The project includes a new 123,000-square-foot Armed Forces Reserve Center, a 3,500-square-foot maintenance-training building and other facilities that include classrooms and arms rooms, providing units with a modern and revitalized environment that will support National Guard units and active-duty Soldiers.

The project is a part of the BRAC Report requirement to renovate and build Armed Forces Reserve Centers across the country, to consolidate existing and outlying Reserve and National Guard facilities to best support retention and recruitment, as well as provide administrative support.

Fort Knox, Ky.

Fort Knox’s impressive number of BRAC and non-BRAC related projects represents more than $700 million in construction contracts, according to Col. Jeffrey Ogden, the deputy garrison commander for transformation.

First and perhaps foremost of the many new buildings going up is the Human Resources CoE, which will house more than 4,000 employees with nearly one million square feet of office space. Ground was broken for the center, scheduled to be completed by June of 2010, in November 2007.

The BRAC blueprint calls for consolidation of the Army’s Accessions Command and the Human Resources Command from its current three locations of Alexandria, Va., St. Louis and Indianapolis, into the new location at Fort Knox.

While the Armor center is moving to Fort Benning, Ga., the post will still retain a major uniformed presence. Several units have been stood up on post in the last few years, and more are on the way. The second of many phases of construction for the incoming infantry brigade combat team is nearing completion. The first phase of barracks was completed last summer and is designed to be home for 600 single Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, who will begin arriving at Fort Knox when their current deployment to Afghanistan is completed this summer.

Construction and transformation are very important, but the effect of the BRAC changes on the incoming workforce is even more so. Their decades of experience and institutional knowledge would be a significant loss to the organizations, Fort Knox and our Army if a large percentage of them chose not to move here with their jobs.

In an effort to mitigate as much loss as possible, the Fort Knox BRAC Road Show was born.

Post organizations—civilian personnel; family, morale welfare and recreation; education services; medical and dental activity; the public affairs office and community leaders traveled to these locations and welcomed personnel to make the move to Fort Knox. This opened up communication for incoming organizations and created a strong bond between the post staff and the community leaders.

“We loved taking part in the Fort Knox Road Shows,” said Jo Emary, executive director of the Radcliff/Hardin County Chamber of Commerce. “We enjoyed meeting people we hope will soon become our new neighbors and sharing with them all the great things our region has to offer.”

Emary and many other community leaders from the region surrounding Fort Knox have also hosted tour groups of employees trying to make a decision whether or not to relocate when their job moves to Fort Knox.

In addition to their participation in the road shows and hosting tours, the communities surrounding Fort Knox have been actively working to make sure they are prepared for the arrival of the approximately 13,000 new Soldiers, civilian employees, contractors and their families.

“A population increase of that size is sure to place increased demands on local road networks, schools, basic services and infrastructure,” said Sheila Enyart, mayor of the neighboring city of Radcliff, Ky. “We want to continue to offer a great quality of life for anyone who calls our region home, especially our friends and neighbors at Fort Knox.

Enyart also serves as chair of the One Knox Policy Council (www.oneknox.com), formed by community leaders soon after the 2005 BRAC announcement. This nine-county regional planning organization coordinates BRAC-related activities that occur outside the gate.

Identifying the needs and working closely with state and federal officials, the region has successfully secured hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for workforce training, road construction, infrastructure improvements and other requirements the BRAC-related growth demands.

“Simply stated, we want to make this the most successful BRAC move ever. That means working as a team setting and managing the conditions for the smoothest possible transition for the new workforce and their families, as well as helping the displaced workers from the out-going Armor School,” said Brad Richardson, executive director of One Knox.

—Maureen Rose/Fort Knox Public Affairs

Fort Sill, Okla.

The move of the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Fort Sill, and the construction of the new ADA complex here are well underway and on schedule, said Fort Sill officials.

The USAADASCH will conduct its first class at Fort Sill in early August when about 80 servicemembers attend the Captain’s Career Course, said Lt. Col. Artice Scott, chief of the BRAC Reintegration and Integration Cell. About four more courses will also begin during fiscal year 2009. Eventually, 18 courses will be offered by 2011, the deadline set by BRAC authorities.

“Everything is moving along great. We’ve had no show-stoppers,” said Scott, whose BRIC is responsible for the transition of the ADA element from Texas to Oklahoma.

Since July 2008, the five BRIC staff members, along with about 35 augmentees who are mostly from Fort Bliss, have been working to ensure that the USAADASCH will be ready to begin courses the first week of August.

“We’re making sure that all the processes, systems, i.e., instructors, equipment and all those types of items are available and ready to go,” said Scott, who is an ADA officer.

Construction of the new USAADASCH and ADA complex began in August 2007. The first new structure, a dining facility, will open in the spring, said Randall Butler, Fort Sill director of Public Works.

“We are making great progress in the construction and a lot of our projects are ahead of schedule,” Scott said.

Eighteen new buildings will be built as part of the USAADASCH in the $215 million project.

New buildings include facilities designed specifically to teach curriculums for the Patriot missile system; Stinger/Avenger weapons systems; and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence studies. Other facilities include a noncommissioned officer academy and four barracks.

“Starting in February through August, we are going to have a good chunk of these facilities come online,” Butler said.

Another 10 buildings that are part of the ADA complex are being renovated, Butler said. BRAC renovations have been completed in the five buildings, which will house 6th ADA Brigade Headquarters and its three battalions’ headquarters, he said. Some sustainment, restoration and modernization work is still being done on those buildings and will be completed soon.

Knox, McNair and Taylor halls are also getting upgrades because they will eventually accommodate staff from the USAADASCH, Butler said.

—Jeff Crawley/“The Cannoneer” newspaper, Fort Sill

Fort Lee, Va.

Fort Lee has checked off the first and arguably most significant project of its massive $1.7 billion BRAC plan.

The Sustainment CoE headquarters building was completed in late December 2008 after 18 months of construction.

It was finished on time, at budget and is the first of more than 30 new structures to be built at Fort Lee under the 2005 BRAC implementation plan.

Maj. Gen. James E. Chamber, U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee commanding general, said the four-story, 218,579-square-foot facility with its energy-efficient blue windows is only the physical embodiment of the SCoE. But what goes on inside the building and at the various subordinate elements under its command umbrella is what’s most important.

“The SCoE creates a combat service support training center unlike any before,” said Chambers, “and will provide the best possible training to the sustainers of our Army and all of our sister services.”

SCoE will house CASCOM, a multi-functional organization overseeing all combat developments and training in logistics, human resources and finance for the Army. A consolidation of logistics centers and schools
from several installations will occur within the next couple of years.

This will include the U.S. Army Transportation Center and School from Fort Eustis; the U.S. Army Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; and the U.S. Army Ordnance Munitions and Electronics Maintenance School from Redstone Arsenal, Ala. These schools will join the U.S. Army Quartermaster Center and School and the U.S. Army Logistics Management College, both already located on Fort Lee.

One other institution integral to CASCOM, the U.S. Army Soldier Support Institute, located at Fort Jackson, S.C., will remain at that location.

The SCoE has been called the “lifeblood of Army logistics,” as it transforms into the third largest training installation in the Army, surpassed only by Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Benning, Ga.

It will bring thousands of military and civilian personnel to Fort Lee annually to attend the various logistics schools. In the end, 185 different courses will be taught here and no combat service support school will teach more military occupational specialties.

The SCoE will become the command center for all of the instruction that takes place at Fort Lee. It will house the headquarters elements of each of the schools, with the exception of ALMC.

ALMC, which will become the Logistics University, is currently in the midst of large-scale construction on the other side of post. It will house the noncommissioned officer academies of each school and focus on multi-functional logistics instruction, especially for officers.

—T. Anthony Bell/“Fort Lee Traveller”

Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.

“Make no mistake, First Army will do everything we can to take care of our staff right here in this room as we move, but we will move.”

With those words, First Army commanding general, Lt. Gen. Thomas G. Miller, confirmed to the headquarters staff that First Army will move from Fort Gillem, Ga., to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., in 2011.

With First Army knee-deep in transformation, and with tens of thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and coalition forces completing First Army post-mobilization training each year for the foreseeable future, some may wonder how the headquarters will be able to meet its mission and complete its move to RIA.

“Seamlessly,” said Brig. Gen. Richard R. McPhee, deputy commanding general, First Army.

“Moving the headquarters will not affect First Army’s primary mission of post-mobilization training,” McPhee said. “First Army will continue to train, mobilize and deploy troops throughout the BRAC process, while simultaneously taking care of our Headquarters workforce to the absolute best of our ability.

“And the reason we’ll be able to do that is because we have two very competent and qualified divisions at Fort Meade and Fort Carson,” he said.

First Army Division East (Fort Meade) and Division West (Fort Carson) command 16 training brigades; 10 brigades east of the Mississippi for Division East, and six brigades west of the Mississippi for Division West. The divisions ensure the brigades have all the necessary personnel and equipment to conduct tough, realistic, theater-specific post-mobilization training at each of 10 mobilization training centers throughout the United States. In fiscal year 2008, First Army mobilized more than 85,000 troops for service in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Guantanamo.

“It’s not like BRAC has snuck up on us,” McPhee said. “We’ve been preparing for the move since Fort Gillem was put on the list in 2005. We already have a building identified at Rock Island where renovations will begin later this year, and we’ve sent advance teams there to start building relationships with the garrison staff, the other commands located there, and to meet officials from the Quad Cities (comprised of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; and Rock Island and Moline, Ill.).

“But, the bottom line for First Army Headquarters is that our training brigades will continue to train our nation’s citizen-Soldiers to fight and win on the battlefield and return home safely to their families. Our divisions will continue to ensure that the training brigades have everything they need to train those Soldiers to standard. And our great Soldiers and Army civilians at the headquarters will continue to do the hard work of ensuring the divisions have the necessary resources—dollars and people—to do their job regardless of whether we’re in Atlanta or Rock Island.”

McPhee, realizing the wealth of institutional knowledge possessed by the headquarters civilian workforce, wants all DA civilians to stay with First Army and make the move to RIA.

“We highly encourage all of our civilians to stay with the headquarters and join us at Rock Island Arsenal,” McPhee said. “Every one of our employees will be given the opportunity to join us at Rock Island Arsenal. They’ll be entitled to all the benefits covered in the Defense National Relocation Program administered by the Corps of Engineers, which include helping the employee sell their existing home and even buying their home after a certain period of time if it fails to sell. With the current economy, being guaranteed your job and that you’ll be able to sell your house is hard to beat. But, it’s a personal decision the individual has to make, and we’ll do everything to help that person whether they relocate to Rock Island Arsenal, transfer to a different government agency or simply retire from civil service.”

On June 15, 2011, First Army will be fully operational at Rock Island Arsenal. With early planning, teamwork and a shared sense of responsibility for its citizen-Soldiers, First Army Headquarters—its divisions and brigades—will execute its mission, transform itself into a more efficient, effective organization, and still seamlessly relocate its headquarters 800 miles north to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.

—Phil Manson/First Army Public Affairs Office

Interested in a career with AMC?

The U.S. Army Materiel Command is actively recruiting talented individuals.
AMC has 19 vacancies on Army’s Civilian Personnel Online website today.
For a complete list of all AMC vacancies visit Civilian Personnel Online and place the phrase NEAE% in the Announcement # box at the bottom of the page.

• Contract Specialist (Procurement Analysis)(1102)
• Contract Specialist (Procurement Analysis)(1102)
• Logistics Management Specialist(0346)
• IT Specialist (PROJMGT)(2210)
• MANAGEMENT ANALYST(0343)
• Logistics Management Specialist(0346)
• Logistics Management Specialist(0346)
• Inspector General Representative(1801)
• Accountant (IRE)(0510)
• IT SPECIALIST (NETWORK)(2210)
• INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST(0301)
• Operations Specialist(0301)
• Operations Specialist(0301)
• Systems Analyst(0301)
• Contract Specialist (1102)
• Contract Specialist (1102)
• Contract Specialist (1102)
• SECURITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SPECIALIST(0301)
• SUPERVISORY ACCOUNTANT(0510)

See all the progress: time-lapse videos posted daily

Check out the video from yesterday – and remember time-lapse videos
are posted daily on the HQAMC BRAC Web site so check back often!

 

 

 

Latest construction photos

More progress!! Check out these photos from the site June 29.  View the entire construction album on our Flickr site.

 

Expanded Homeowners Assistance Program could help with BRAC hardships

Jun 29, 2009, By Rob McIlvaine, FMWRC Public Affairs

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, June 29, 2009) — While the Base Realignment and Closure decisions of 2005 are causing upheaval for some families, help is available through the Department of Defense National Relocation Program, the Homeowners Assistance Program, and soon, the Expanded HAP, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Besides standard Permanent Change of Station or PCS entitlements, the Department of Defense National Relocation Program provides relocation services, including a guaranteed home buyout process, to eligible DoD civilian employees so they can sell their homes at the prior-duty station and locate housing at the new duty station.

Its primary benefit, known as Guaranteed Home Sale, offers an alternative to the PCS reimbursement process. It also offers other valuable services such as the Home Marketing Incentive Payment, a financial-incentive-bonus payment that may be authorized for employees who successfully market their homes.

Since its inception in 1987, the relocation program has helped thousands of employees sell their homes through the Guaranteed Home Sale Program, rent their homes through the Property Management Program, and purchase or rent in a new town through Destination Services. The complete DoD National Relocation Program Handbook, revised December 2008, explains in detail the services available and the process required to obtain these services.

The traditional HAP program provides benefits for transferring Soldiers and civilian employees only when an economic impact study determines that the depreciation of home values is specifically linked to the closure of a nearby military installation, according to David Gage, chief of the National Relocation Program Office for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, “In that case,” Gage said, “HAP guarantees all or a portion of the difference between the price a property sells for and the estimated value of the property prior to the base closure announcement.”

Expanded HAP will help even more.

On May 14, Vice President Joe Biden announced DoD’s plan to add $555 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand the HAP to help offset the effects of the country’s struggling housing market.

“The recently passed economic stimulus program that expanded the HAP eligibility guidelines to provide some financial benefits for BRAC-affected servicemembers and civilian employees who sell their homes at prices less than their purchase price or less than the mortgage balance owed, without requiring any economic impact study,” Gage said.

This temporary expansion, which includes the payment of closing costs to transferring servicemembers and civilian employees affected by BRAC 2005, was possible through the efforts of the Army Family Action Plan committee members who played a positive role in reviving the PCS issue.

Ralph Nordenhold and his wife, Sandra, DoD civilians who both work at Family and MWR Command in Alexandria, Va., recently sold their home through a private buyer after listing with DNRP.

“I had a realtor prior to working with DNRP,” Nordenhold said. “After signing up with DNRP, I had a buyer within three days, at which point DNRP bought the home and began getting the appraisals, home inspections and title search completed.”

The Nordenholds bought their home in Springfield, Va., in 1999 when, according to Ralph, the housing market was even worse than now.

“But up until this market, the value of our home rose, considerably, so I feel we got a good price. And thanks to the Home Marketing Incentive Program, because I sold my home before selling to DNRP (prior to 60 days after listing with DNRP), I will get a bonus,” Nordenhold said.

Over the past few years, the Nordenholds improved their home by laying hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms, installing new stairs from the first to the second floor, and building a patio in the back with brick and slate.

“We’ve put a lot of work into this house which helped in marketing,” Nordenhold said. Correcting any structural problems after listing with DNRP is a requirement.

After selling, more benefits may apply.

“When the implementing guidance (from DoD) is issued, employees who are eligible for HAP benefits who have already sold their homes can still file for HAP benefits after the fact,” Gage said.

Employees who are or will be moving due to BRAC can use the DNRP for the home sale at current market value, and file for HAP benefits to provide any additional benefit (e.g., loss-on-sale or negative equity payments) for which they may be entitled.

The DNRP Web site, http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/dnrp.htm, includes info and a link to the HAP Web page.

The guidelines for eligibility for expanded HAP benefits are already established, and can be found at the HAP Web site: http://hap.usace.army.mil/.

However, the implementing guidance for the Expanded HAP won’t reach the field until the end of July, perhaps August, according to Jeanne Hodge, public affairs officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District.

“The Corps’ role is execution of the program, once implementing guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense is received. The rules, policy, guidance are all being developed at the OSD level,” Hodge said.

Present tax laws require that expanded HAP applicants will be taxed on all benefits above their home’s current fair market value as part of their gross income. Applicants should consider this tax liability as they evaluate their best courses of action, officials advised.

Huntsville, D.C. named in Forbes 10 Best Cities For Recession Recovery

 

Joshua Zumbrun, 06.10.09, 10:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON –

 The three most important things in real estate: location, location, location.

It’s true for recovery from a real estate bubble too. Overall, many economists expect the national economy to return to growth later in 2009, perhaps as soon as this summer. But that won’t be the case everywhere. While some cities are poised for a quick rebound, others face a slog to recovery that could take years.

Poised for swift recovery are many Texas cities, such as Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and McAllen. These areas did not see the massive real estate bubble that formed in states like California, Nevada and Florida. The economy is diverse, with heavy growth coming from education and health care in recent years.

In Pictures: The 10 Best And 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Economic Recovery

Best:

1. Austin-Round Rock, Texas
2. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.
3. Boulder, Colo.
4. Huntsville, Ala.
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Mobile, Ala.
7. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
9. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
10. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.

Worst:

1. Flint, Michigan
2. Fresno, Calif.
3. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
4. Modesto, Calif.
5. Salinas, Calif.
6. Bakersfield, Calif.
7. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.
8. Stockton, Calif.
9. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio
10. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.

Many of the cities with the longest road to recovery are California cities, where home prices rocketed out of control, and entire economies were supported largely by a real estate bubble. Fresno, Modesto, Salinas, Bakersfield, Stockton and Los Angeles all saw home prices soar to unsustainable levels and then begin their inevitable plunge. The collapse of the housing markets pushed unemployment rates in these cities above 10%.

Even as a flood of foreclosures makes home prices look affordable again, a sign that some of the worst real estate markets may be finding their bottom, it will still take years for unemployment rates as high as 16.8% in Modesto or 15.5% in Fresno to return to healthy levels.

To find the 10 cities that look best poised for recovery (and the 10 cities likely looking at the longest climb back), we examined estimates from data provider Moody’s Economy.com of the projected gross domestic product of metropolitan areas across the U.S., as well as unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and home prices, incomes and affordability data from the National Association of Home Builders. Because, in general, healthy cities were not victims of as severe a housing collapse, home prices were not used in ranking the cities poised for recovery.

The analysis also shows the importance of a city’s economic make-up. Manufacturing has been battered by the recession, leaving cities like Detroit and Flint, Mich., or Youngstown, Ohio, with bad unemployment and a changing economy that’s unlikely to replace the lost jobs. Moody’s projects the economy in Flint, for example, will decrease by 16% from the start of recession to the end of 2010. (One commonly cited rule of thumb for depression is a decline of 10%.) Flint might never return to its original size.

New York City, too, once the capital of finance, is now saddled with Wall Street-induced unemployment and homes that are completely unaffordable for most of the region’s residents. The NAHB’s Housing Opportunity Index reports that only 14% of homes in the New York-White Plains-Wayne area are affordable on the area’s median income–by far the least affordable region measured by NAHB.

Cities with robust technology sectors are poised for stronger recoveries than manufacturing or finance centers. Cities with high-tech capabilities like Seattle, Huntsville, Ala., or Boulder, Colo., could see quick recovery in coming months.

In Pictures: The 10 Best And 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Economic Recovery

AMC’s AMRDEC partners with Alabama A&M on center of excellence

AMRDEC director Dr. Bill McCorkle, right, talks with U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith on June 8 at Alabama A&M University. Photo credit Merv Brokke, AMRDEC Public Affairs Office.

The Army and Alabama A&M University kicked off the new Center of Excellence in Integrated Sensor Systems at the university’s School of Engineering and Technology in a ceremony June 8.

The center joins almost 300 other academic institutions that have partnered with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command and its subordinate elements. RDECOM element the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, headquartered in Redstone Arsenal Ala., is spearheading the Army’s involvement on this project. AMRDEC and the Department of Defense contributed $100,000 to $600,000, respectively to the center.

University officials hope the new center ultimately boosts the number of top engineers in north Alabama as well as contributing to homeland defense.

“The $700,000 center will advance the state of knowledge in areas of sensor and data fusion, contextual detection and classification, future sensor systems and architectures for missile defense, and other homeland security applications,” explained Dr. Kaveh Heidary, the A&M electrical engineering professor who is the project’s principal investigator.

U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, who was present for the formal announcement, said the center will also contribute to a national push for students to pursue technological studies.

“Because of global competitiveness and the technological advances of other countries, we must attract more students with some inclination for math and sciences,” Griffith said.

During the 2008-09 academic year, more than 800 students were enrolled in A&M’s School of Engineering and Technology, according to the Office of Institutional Planning, Research and Evaluation.

AMRDEC director Dr. Bill McCorkle and A&M interim president Beverly Edmond praised the “first-rate” engineering school.

Huntsville/Madison County Chamber releases 2009 Economic Growth Report