103-06A-Rh15 - Media Briefing Book Regional Hearing - 7-22-05 - New Orleans - LA Page: 22 of 107
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military and civilian personnel.
Under the realignment plan, the Naval Education and Training Command, the Officer Training
Center and the Naval Aero-Medical Research Laboratory would move from Pensacola. The
Pensacola branch of the Defense Finance Accounting Service would close.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Melbourne, told the group that he has spoken to two of the nine BRAC
Commission members about Pensacola's plight.
"I know (retired Navy) Admiral Harold Gehman and (retired Army) General James Hill very
well," he said. "I've already made the argument to General Hill that it is more logical to keep the
Naval Education and Training Command in Pensacola than move it to Millington, Tennessee.
Just look at the infrastructure we already have at Pensacola."
A member of Nelson's staff also announced that two members of the BRAC Commission most
likely will visit the Pensacola area soon to study firsthand the recommended cuts.
The local delegation moves on today to the Pentagon to meet with Navy officials to emphasize
members' opposition to the BRAC recommendations for Pensacola.
But retired Navy Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman, a member of the delegation, believes that "few at the
Pentagon will talk about BRAC."
Military officials usually are instructed to refrain from discussing BRAC until final decisions are
made, Fetterman said. That might not occur until next spring.
Nevertheless, he said, this week's trip by local leaders provides a good way to keep Pensacola in
the minds of decision-makers.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy B.J. Penn said he will speak generally about the BRAC process at
today's meeting. He also said the Pensacola delegation should understand that the process is
nonpolitical and data-driven.
The delegation's meetings Thursday at the Cannon House Office Building near the Capitol were
not what some members expected.
"The focus shifted away from BRAC," said Pensacola City Council member P.C. Wu, who is
most worried about the projected job losses compounding area economic problems after
Hurricane Ivan.
"I was a little disappointed that we didn't talk more about it."
U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., told the group that Northwest Florida's wide expanse of
controlled airspace -- 18,700 square miles -- most likely helped keep its bases open.
Hefley, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, also told the group
that he believes this year's round of BRAC should have been postponed.
"It's wrong to do BRAC in the middle of a war," he said. "They should have put it off a couple of
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103-06A-Rh15 - Media Briefing Book Regional Hearing - 7-22-05 - New Orleans - LA, legal document, July 19, 2005; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc18054/m1/22/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.