Transfers 8,500 Troops by 2011

Washington, May 24, 2005 -

Following a second meeting with Department of Defense (DoD) officials Tuesday, U.S. Representatives John R. Carter (TX-31) and Chet Edwards (TX-17) said more important information was omitted under the initial Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) proposal. Carter and Edwards received confirmation from the Army that 37,600 acres available for training at Fort Hood was not included in the BRAC proposal released May 13^{th, which raises more questions about the initial recommendation to move nearly 8,500 troops from Fort Hood by 2011.}

^{"The availability of training acreage is a major consideration in the BRAC process and it is again troubling that important information like this was not considered in the initial proposal," said Carter. "These questions need to be answered to ensure that the final decision is made in the best interests of the Army and Fort Hood."}

^{"The omission of almost 37,600 acres for training at Fort Hood is a major flaw in DoD’s BRAC recommendation that the independent BRAC Commission should carefully review," said Edwards. "I have serious questions about a proposal that would move thousands of soldiers out of Fort Hood at a cost of half a billion dollars to taxpayers to an installation where they would have to travel 150 miles by railcar to conduct training maneuvers."}

^{In recent years, Congress has provided funding for an effort to help identify habitat outside Fort Hood’s boundaries so endangered species restrictions could be lifted from training lands inside Fort Hood. Fort Hood announced last month that the restrictions were lifted; resulting in 37,600 acres being opened for training at Fort Hood.}

They also discovered other quality of life issues were not taken into consideration, such as cost of higher education and housing.

^{On May 17th, Edwards and Carter met with Mr. Geoff Prosch, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army, Installations and Environment, and other Department of Defense (DoD) officials to discuss the BRAC Recommendations and were reassured that Ft. Hood will remain a premier military installation.}

^{In that meeting, DoD officials confirmed that the BRAC recommendations were derived from 2003 numbers and Ft. Hood, by 2011, will be at 40,863 military personnel, a loss of approximately 8,500 soldiers. Current DoD estimates indicate 49,305 soldiers will be based at Fort Hood by the end of 2005.}

For more information, or to interview either Congressmen please contact Gretchen Hamel, of Congressman Carter’s office, at (202)225-3864 or Josh Taylor, of Congressman Edward’s office, at (202)225-6105.