BRAC 2005 could help fix training, housing shortages.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Watch - Base Realignment and Closure

It's that time again: that periodic base closing drill that pits the Defense Department against military commanders who need ever so much housing and training facilities. Added to the mix is an array of politicians and business interests hell-bent on preserving jobs and other benefits to local economies.

In just several months, the base realignment and closure commission wilt submit to Congress a list of military installations that are recommended for closure.

Pentagon officials have stressed for years that the Defense Department is saddled with too much unneeded property, and that they would like to see bases trimmed by at least 25 percent.

But comments from military officials in recent months suggest that, even though the Pentagon probably has more surplus real estate than it can afford, it still lacks facilities to meet fundamental needs, such as military housing and training.

To fulfill the growing demands from combat operations, the Marine Corps, for example, is being asked to expand the force by creating an infantry battalion and a light armored reconnaissance battalion.

The Corps has enough Marines to staff those battalions, but not enough housing to accommodate them, says the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Michael Hagee.

Past base-closure rounds and other downsizing exercises have left the Corps with barely enough housing for the current 24 infantry battalions in the force. "We normally have six battalions out at all times," he said. "If you brought them all back, we wouldn't have enough infrastructure for them."

The $75 billion emergency-spending request that the Defense Department sent to Congress last month includes funds to build housing for one Marine battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C. As for the other battalion, "we are still considering where to put it," Hagee adds.

The Corps also plans to set up a new unit of 400 Marines that will be dedicated to training foreign troops. Asked where that organization will be based, Hagee replies, "We don't know. Again, we have facility problems."

The housing example illustrates the dilemma facing the commission: Can the Defense Department close bases and still meet the needs of the military services?

The answer is yes, says Ken Beeks, a BRAC expert at Business Executives for National Security, a group that supports base closures as a necessary step to cut wasteful Pentagon spending.

The facility glut and the shortage of barracks are "the flip side of the same coin," says Beeks.

"They have...