The information came out
during Wednesday's Base Realignment and Closure Commission
hearing. Under the Pentagon's plan, Brunswick would not be
simply "kept warm" as some had thought, but rather, would host
P3's from Florida for weeks or even months at a time.
As expected, Brunswick's supporters are frustrated with the
Pentagon's logic. They say the plan to send P3's to Brunswick
for missions called "detachments" really just emphasizes
Brunswick's strategic importance.
They say it also would not be efficient. It costs a $8,000
an hour to fly a P3 and it takes three and a half hours for
one to fly up from Jacksonville. They argue that flying P3's
and their support staff up for long periods of time would cost
the navy a lot of money and stress an already-aging fleet.
Members of the task force have long-believed that the
Pentagon's plan for Brunswick would be to send regular
detachments there, but Wednesday was the first time it came up
as a central part of the hearing process.
"They're really putting flesh on their proposal to realign.
And that's what they're talking about with the detachment.
They are beginning to describe what their intentions are under
the realignment scenario. The trouble with realignment is it
damages mission effectiveness and doesn't save much money,"
said Capt. Ralph Dean.
Capt. Dean and others are now working on responding more
fully to some of the BRAC commissioners' questions in writing.
The voting on the bases begins in two weeks.
