[News from Congressman Chris Smith - 4th New Jersey

5+ Year Lobby Effort Pays Off for Lakehurst

Smith Says Added Missions Deepen Military Value Before BRAC

     (Washington, DC) — “A multi-year effort to convince the Department of Defense (DoD) to make a major Army National Guard investment at Navy Lakehurst has proven successful,” said Rep. Chris Smith, who began working on the project in 1998.  As a result, President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 military construction budget recommends $26.685 million in funding to build a Consolidated Logistics and Training Facility (CLTF) at the far-western edge of the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station.

     “For many years now, I have been working with the great people at Lakehurst and officials from the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Army National Guard, and the Navy, to convince them to make a major Army National Guard infrastructure investment at a Navy installation.  President Bush has clearly seen the merits of our argument, including the benefits of the contiguous nature of the Fort Dix-Navy Lakehurst-McGuire Air Force Base Joint Installation Partnership,” said Rep. Smith.

     The $26.6 million project will construct a combined heavy tracked and wheeled vehicle maintenance and logistics facility where vehicles from the New Jersey Army National Guard (as well as from several other states) would be pre-staged.  When training on the vehicles was required, personnel would drive the vehicles from the newly built complex at Navy Lakehurst along a military access road that intersects Route 539 and onto the ranges at nearby Fort Dix.  When the training was completed at Fort Dix, the vehicles would travel back to Lakehurst and be maintained, serviced, and repaired at the CLTF building.  The location of the new site – at the far western edge of Lakehurst – is ideally suited to fulfilling this mission.  In fact, the vehicles would travel less distance coming from the Navy base (and hence, put less wear and tear on the expensive military vehicles), than they would if the CLTF were situated at Fort Dix itself.

     Congressman Smith has widely credited the Commanding Officer at Lakehurst, Capt. Mark Bathrick, “with being instrumental in making Navy Lakehurst such a welcoming, ‘can-do’ installation that makes it attractive for Joint Service partners to set up shop at the base.  The approach has also earned plaudits from senior officials at the Pentagon, when Capt. Bathrick and his Lakehurst team were awarded the top facilities award last year for the Navy for installation excellence.”

     Smith remarked that “The decision by an Army activity to invest a very large sum of money -- $26.6 million is a big sum even by Pentagon standards – at a Navy field activity is a huge nod of confidence by the Department of Defense in the Joint Basing concept we have been working so hard to advance here in central New Jersey.”

     Since the last BRAC round in1995, Congressman Smith has spearheaded efforts in Congress to help secure more than $82.9 million in targeted federal investments at Navy Lakehurst.  The projects have included a new “Superlab” to enhance the Navy’s core military carrier launch and recovery mission, a land-based EMALS electromagnetic catapult test site, program funds to accelerate the ADMACS Block II carrier aviation information systems, a new consolidated fire house, a new Army Recruiting Battalion headquarters, and a new Department of Justice aviation hangar.

     Congressman Smith has also worked closely with his colleague, Rep. Jim Saxton, who chairs a House Armed Services Subcommittee, to promote greater Joint Service cooperation between the Tri-Service installations straddling both Congressional Districts.  Their efforts to promote the advantages of locating new Joint Service missions at the “mega-base” have already borne fruit in the form of Operation Eagle Flag, a major Air Force exercise that takes place each year at Navy Lakehurst.  Other recent and successful Joint Service missions include the decision by the New Jersey Army National Guard to base its helicopter operations at Navy Lakehurst.

     “Our planned effort to grow the three bases by attracting new Joint Service missions enhances the military value of all of them.  And because the primary criterion of the new BRAC round is ‘military value,’ the CLTF project represents a major win for our community and state, and we now will go into the Pentagon’s internal BRAC prioritization process in a stronger position because of it,” Smith said.

     Many obstacles had to be overcome in order to pave the way for the President to include the $26.6 million in his budget request.  The first specific plans for the project were started in 1998, when New Jersey had its previous Acting Governor, Donald DiFrancesco, who pushed for a state appropriation with local Ocean County legislators to fund the planning and design of the facility.  Among the difficulties encountered with the project were careful environmental assessments to ensure the new facility did not unduly harm a nearby population of pine snakes, as well as tough inter-Service negotiations over leasing terms between the Army and Navy.  Throughout the process, Rep. Smith worked hard with Adjutant General Glenn Reith and his team at the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to keep these and other elements of the program on track so that the project was ready to receive full funding.

     Lastly, the Congressman noted that the New Jersey Army National Guard already has future plans on the board to make several additional phased investments at the CLTF site.  “Hopefully, this $26.6 million down payment is merely the first of a series of planned Army Guard activities at Navy Lakehurst.  It is an honor to host such dedicated citizen soldiers in our community, and help them develop the gunnery, driving, and repair skills they will surely need on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan,” Rep. Smith said.

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For Immediate Release: February 8, 2005
Contact:  Andy Napoli (202) 225-3765