Backers to make final plea today as BRAC tours HAFB

Utah's decades-long courtship with the Base Realignment and Closure Commission may finally be over.

In fact, today's soiree may just be a formality.

Hill Air Force Base backers will plead their case once and for all today, when BRAC commissioners are expected to take a tour of the state's largest military installation.

The state's local and federal leaders and the Utah Defense Alliance have guarded Utah's military installations from the threat of closure since the BRAC commission's inception in 1988.

Hill escaped the four previous BRAC rounds with little damage, and the Pentagon's recommendation this year proposed a net loss of 145 jobs at the base.

"Apocalypse was closure; anything short of that is a success from our standpoint," said Vickie McCall, president of the Utah Defense Alliance. "We did not lose the jobs that we really had concern over, and we're very, very thankful to be in the position that we're in."

Now Hill is in a position to gain more jobs.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said he plans to show BRAC commissioners just how strong the base is by showing off several locations on the base. Commissioners Jim Hansen, the former Utah congressman; Lloyd "Fig" Newton, a retired Air Force general; and Philip Coyle are expected to tour the base, Hill spokeswoman Marilu Trainor said.

After a morning briefing with Hill staff, commissioners are expected to take a stroll through both the Ogden Air Logistics Center's F-16 and A-10 maintenance lines as well as the landing gear facility, Trainor said.

The commissioners are also expected to meet with leadership from the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing as well as the reserve 419th Fighter Wing. Both wings could possibly be affected by the Pentagon's recommendations to the BRAC commission.

"We are supporting the commission's request and are prepared to explain the missions of the Ogden Air Logistics Center, the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings and our other associate organizations," said Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Sullivan, Hill's senior military leader and commander of the Ogden ALC. "We will address any issues or questions the commissioners may ask and clarify any information they need about the data submitted earlier by Hill's organizations."

The Pentagon ranked the base 14th out of 154 Air Force facilities in the ability to host fighter missions.

Bishop said Hill backers' strategy Monday is to reinforce the Pentagon's recommenda- tions to the BRAC commission.