Supporters of bases nationwide are working to identify and promote strengths during the review process and to overcome obstacles their bases face.

In Oklahoma, the state approved millions to help solve encroachment issues at Tinker — and also to offer local money to improve base facilities. McCall is not too worried about that. "The Utah Legislature provided $13 million 10 years ago to help solve encroachment issues we had, so we are out in front on that issue," she said.

Most bases have been fighting hard for building funds from Congress to add or improve facilities to increase their worth and make it less likely the federal government would spend money on them with one hand and close them with the other.

This year, the Utah congressional delegation, led by Bennett on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, on the House Armed Services Committee, won more than $21 million in construction funds for Hill.

That included $13 million to replace outdated munitions igloos; $5.9 million for a deployment center; $1.8 million for small-diameter bomb storage igloos; and $1 million for a munitions maintenance facility. Tens of millions more have been spent in recent years on hangars, runways and housing.

Meanwhile, Bishop is also pushing a bill — which has run into serious opposition from environmentalists, the Goshute tribe and even military brass — to protect the air space of the vast Utah Test and Training Range, where planes from Hill train.

His bill would ensure that wilderness areas beneath the UTTR do not restrict Air Force flights or ground facilities. It would also create some new wilderness, and in the process block a proposed nuclear waste repository on the Goshute reservation. Bishop says worries about possible crashes into that waste might also restrict flights.

"Having the largest usable land bombing range in the nation tied to an air base is significant and unique," Bishop said of the bill, and noted that protecting the UTTR also protects Hill.

Bishop is also pushing to improve an air strip at Dugway Proving Ground, which could allow emergency landings for aircraft using the nearby UTTR. "That could help both Dugway and Hill" survive, Bishop said.

Of note, Dugway was originally proposed by the Army to close in the 1995 round. However, it later figured the Rhode Island-sized base is so contaminated by munitions testing that it could not be closed easily. Since then, testing there related to chemical and biological defense has also become more important amid terrorism.

Becoming a winner

McCall notes that more is at stake for Hill than just surviving. "We want to become a 'receiver base' for new missions" from other bases that close, she said, as Hill did after the last round in 1995.