In the News
EDITORIAL: 440th Airlift Wing has friend in Ellmers
Sitting down recently with The Herald, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers had a pressing matter on her mind. The second-term congresswoman is waging dozens of battles on many fronts – ranging from Medicare to human trafficking. But lately, she's directed a fair amount of grit to preserving the 440th Airlift Wing based at Fort Bragg.
EDITORIAL: 440th Airlift Wing has friend in Ellmers
By the Editorial Board Sitting down recently with The Herald, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers had a pressing matter on her mind. The second-term congresswoman is waging dozens of battles on many fronts — ranging from Medicare to human trafficking. But lately, she’s directed a fair amount of grit to preserving the 440th Airlift Wing based at Fort Bragg. Ellmers’s camp reached out to us specifically on the issue of the 440th, recognizing that the implications of its deactivation — announced in March 2014 — would extend far beyond Fayetteville and the behemoth base. Indeed, as she has told the media and testified before Congress, the impending closure is a threat to national security and military readiness. The 440th’s C-130s are the 82nd Airborne Division’s main mode of transport. If the 440th shut down, Ellmers said C-130s would have to be flown in from other bases for training and other purposes as required. We’re not the first to note the irony — and abject stupidity — of removing every plane from the home of the 82nd Airborne. But why should all of Central Carolina, especially, take notice? To start, hundreds of men and women working in the 440th, as well as their families, have made this region their home. They and their spouses live here, work here, shop here, and send their children to school here. They are friends and neighbors who had intended to settle in for the long term. “The effect this decision will have on service men and women, their families and the local economy is precisely why she is working so hard to prevent deactivation,” said Ellmers’s spokeswoman Blair Ellis. “Her end goal is to halt this shortsighted proposal from moving forward in order to provide certainty and stability to the families and others affected.” As may be imagined, stability and peace of mind have proved elusive for those caught in this quagmire. There’s the overall economic impact to consider — estimated at $77 million annually — but the emotional and mental toll of two years of uncertainty is impossible to measure. Ellmers can claim that she and her legislative allies — including U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis — are responsible for many of these families staying put despite the chaos. Earlier this year, the Air Force introduced a clearinghouse intended to push remaining Reservists into relocation. The pressure also mounted from a looming deactivation date in September. And many did leave — hundreds in fact. But the unit’s congressional advocates recently won a major victory with the news that deactivation would be delayed until at least the fall of 2016— which helped stop the hemorrhaging. As Ellmers acknowledged, this war is far from won. But thanks to the congresswoman and others firmly in its corner, the 440th lives to fight another year.
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