Our View: Air Force Can't Justify Deactivating 440th
By the Editorial Board
The Fayetteville Observer
Friday, April 11, 2014

"That last issue was articulated forcefully Wednesday when Rep. Renee Ellmers testified before the House Armed Services Committee. The Dunn Republican warned that the 440th Wing provides a third of air support and training for Fort Bragg."'Eliminating the ability to rapidly mobilize to train and deploy with local commanders, air crew and aircraft that have an established relationship with our most in-demand forces increases risks at an unacceptable rate,' she said… Hagan, Ellmers and others in Congress ask good questions. Where are the answers?"

Members of North Carolina's congressional delegation continue to protest plans to deactivate the 440th Reserve Airlift Wing at Pope Field.

An earlier bipartisan letter of protest from N.C. House members railed against removing this critical component of Fort Bragg's rapid-development forces. Sen. Kay Hagan weighed in this week with some pointed inquiries for Air Force Reserve commander Lt. Gen. James Jackson and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Hagan asked some questions directly and implied others by noting troubling facts. These doubts about deactivating the 440th aren't new. We've been asking the same things since first learning about the Air Force scheme several weeks ago. But the only responses so far don't address our major objections.

Coming from Hagan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, these concerns ought to be harder for the White House and Pentagon to ignore:

Why weren't Army commanders at Fort Bragg consulted on a decision that so directly affected them?

Why hasn't the Air Force presented its full cost analysis?

Why did the Air Force so quickly reverse a plan presented to Hagan's committee in March 2013, to move C-130Js to Pope in conjunction with removing the C-130Hs there currently?

Shouldn't Congress participate in decisions of this magnitude through the authorization process? And if so, why is the military acting like it's a done deal?

Won't this change undermine the readiness of forces at Fort Bragg?

That last issue was articulated forcefully Wednesday when Rep. Renee Ellmers testified before the House Armed Services Committee. The Dunn Republican warned that the 440th Wing provides a third of air support and training for Fort Bragg.

"Eliminating the ability to rapidly mobilize to train and deploy with local commanders, air crew and aircraft that have an established relationship with our most in-demand forces increases risks at an unacceptable rate," she said.

The Air Force claims its plan would save $116 million over five years. That figure likely doesn't account for some offsetting expenses, but for the sake of argument let's say it's right. Those savings would be less than 0.005 percent of the defense budget during that period.

Even if the Air Force's math adds up, which might be a first, that paltry savings can't justify harm to military readiness.

Hagan, Ellmers and others in Congress ask good questions. Where are the answers?