Letters from Niagara Falls Community to Commissioners Page: 6 of 106

                                
May 2005                                                                  m   lnM
BRAC Commission                                                      06/17/2005
Washington DC.
clo NIMAC
P.O. Box 231
Niagara Falls, NY 14304-0231
Dear Chairman Principf and BRAC Commssioners:
I am deeply troubled by the Defense Department's recommendation to close the Niagara
Falls Air Force Reserve Base. This recommendation is a terrible mistake and I urge the
BRAC Commission reverse this decision and remove the Niagara Falls Rase from the list.
It is hard to understand why the Air Force has decided to take planes, missions, and jobs
away from so many Air Guard and Air Reserve bases and put them on more costly Active
Duty base. Of all the bases to pick to ciose, how do you close the base whose unit helped
rescue Jessica Lynch In Iraq because they are the lead night vision C-130 unit in the
Reserves? You must also recognize:
*  The federal government has invested more than S35 million in Niagara Falls since
1995 in new facilities.
* Base Operations Support costs have been reduced more than 33% (to include a 25%
'reduction a utilities) to make the base one of the most cost-efldent faclites in the
Air Force Reserve Command.
* Closure of the base eliminates the ability to reralt and retain New Yorkers in a
region in which the units have both maintained in excess of 100% manning rates.
*  Niaga  Fails existing ufiastructure can accommodate eght (8) additional C-130I
model aircraft without any military construction.
SNiagara Falls faces no physical encracment nor air traffic control constraints and
has acreage on the base and adjacent to the Installation for expansion. -
I urge the Commission in the strongest possible terms to remove Niagara FalEs AFB from
the Pentagon's recommended list of base closures and to stop the continuing retreat of the
military rom eour region of the country.
Sincerely,