Fort Bragg Community Listening Session
February 5, 2015
The purpose of this meeting was to conduct a listening session with the Fort Bragg community with regards to the “Army End Strenth Reductions” from the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the possible impacts to the community.
The following information comes directly from the power point presentation.
- Driven by the 2011 Budget Control Act and 2012 Defense Guidance, the Army announced it would reduce Active Component (AC) end-strength from 570K to 490K and reduce AC Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) from 45 to 32
- The Army faces an extremely difficult fiscal environment, with its portion of Budget Control Act/sequester cuts estimated at $95B over 10 years
- Timely end-strength reductions and structure adjustments in all Army components are necessary to shape a force that can best meet defense strategic requirements within constrained funding
- The anticipated end-strength reductions and associated socio-economic impacts are expected to be greater than those experienced in the reduction to 490K and will impact most Army installations due to the absence of available mitigating measures
Budgeted Military Construction numbers
FY13 – 237 million
FY14 – 206 million
FY 15 – 121 million
FY15 – 171 million
FY18 – 48 million
FY19 – 133 million
FY20 – 78 million
What Was Said:
LTG Anderson
- These comments will go to the Force Management division
- We already have the facts and figures. We need your say
- No decisions have been made
- There will be a decision in early spring and the drawdown will begin in October
- Right now sequestration is the law of the la
Colonel Jeffrey Sanborn
- Military construction will be very constraint going forward
- Based on sequestration budge of 2011 troops will be cut from 490,000 to 440,000
- Fort Bragg is the most economical base due to the energy and water here are cheap
- Waste management is cheap
- These are all variables
- A soldier here is cheaper than elsewhere
Major General (Retired) Cornell Wilson – Governor Pat McCrory’s Military Adviser
- There will be a 60 billion dollar economic impact to the state with troop removal
- The governor has established a North Carolina Military Affairs Commission
- This new commission will insure NC as a state to support and protect military installations and improve a soldiers quality of life
NC Representative John Szoka
- North Carolina is focused on 3 things regarding the military 1) infrastructure and base protection 2) soldiers and families 3) veterans
- Infrastructure/base protection – I295 is funded, Duke Energy bringing power to the post, legislation passed on encroachment issues, HB 254, HB433
- Soldiers/families – HB 1060 (identifies students of the military)
- Veterans – HB 767 (gives retired soldiers with leadership credit with pay when they become teachers in North Carolina
Fayetteville Regional Association of REALTORS® President Queen Wheeler spoke to the group. Her comments are below.
“Almost half of our board is made up of retirees of family members of active duty retirees or active duty service members. Many of our members are active duty or retired or veteran service members and we consider Fort Bragg our Fort Bragg and our soldiers. They are very important to us. The Fort Bragg active duty civilians, retirees and veterans have bet on Fort Bragg. The bet on Fort Bragg and they voted for Fayetteville. They voted for Fayetteville with their investment in property and real estate here in this area for their primary homes as well as their investment homes. They voted for Fayetteville when they moved their families here and planted them and they depend on us as REALTORS to help them make those decisions and to make smart decisions here and we do that. We as REALTORS act very agressivly in the legislature to further and protect our military members, property rights and to further their rights here in the Fayetteville area. We understand how important it is to them to make sure their families are safe when they deploy and that their children are able to come and transition easily and be able to continue on with traveling soccer, continue dance, continue playing softball….all of those things our committee offers and they do that by investing in real estate in the different areas of Fayetteville. Fort Bragg soldiers also voted for Fayetteville when they chose to make part of their retirement package investment in realtor properties. We have many of our rentals owned by soldiers past and present as well as civilians that are on Fort Bragg. They have invested in Fayetteville and voted for Fayetteville. They depend on Fort Bragg to stay strong and to continue to grow so that their quality of life continues to grow after they transition out of the military. So we as REALTORS will continue to be the greatest advocates to Fort Bragg and to the soldiers of Fort Bragg. We will protect their property rights and further their property rights on their behalf. We and Fort Bragg and their soldiers feel every single soldier lost and it shows up in our numbers. It has shown up in our numbers today. Today we have 1,200 to many houses on the market and this translates to a financial hardship for many military families which then goes into their readiness. We as well as I’m sure at Fort Bragg leadership do not wish this upon our military members at all. To have financial burdens because they are unable to sell their real estate whenever they are asked to move or leave the military and so it is of great importance that Fort Bragg is not only sustained but it continues to grow and that our market is healthy and the only way to do that is for Fort Bragg again to stay, be sustained and grow and continue to grow so we the Fayetteville Regional Association of REALTORS will always be in support of Fort Bragg and welcome every opportunity to get involved and help Fort Bragg in anyway to continue to succeed and continue to grow.”
