Wright-Patt leaders present BRAC opportunities and challenges at "1,000 Job Roundtable"

  • Published
  • By Chris McGee
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  A four-person leadership team from Wright-Patterson AFB informed U.S. Congressman Mike Turner from Ohio and area county commissioners of base opportunities and challenges presented by the Base Realignment and Closure process during a "1,000 Job Roundtable" held at Sinclair Community College in Dayton March 26.

The base panel consisted of Maj. Gen. Curtis M. Bedke, AFRL commander; Col. Colleen Ryan, 88 Air Base Wing commander; Jacque Fisher, base BRAC director; and Col. Andrew Monteiro, 88 ABW Medical Group commander.

Congressman Turner chaired the forum. The event functioned similarly to a Congressional hearing, with the panel making presentations to Congressman Turner and the county commissioners and fielding questions.

The roundtable afforded parties an opportunity to discuss the community-wide impact of Wright-Patterson AFB's BRAC gains.

According to Gen. Bedke, BRAC may present some daunting hurdles, but it also will enable the base to forge even stronger community partnerships and will help boost area business activity.

"Implementing BRAC 2005 will be a challenge for us all," Gen. Bedke said. "But, there will be opportunities for new partnerships with the Dayton and surrounding Ohio communities.

"There will be new facilities and equipment for AFRL and Wright-Patterson, and opportunities for local area businesses and contractors."

Touching on the massive construction and unit transition to take place between now and 2011, Col. Ryan said that the base "has not seen such large-scale development in a short timeline since our build up during World War II."

Approximately 1,200 positions are targeted to transition to Wright-Patterson AFB, with the base to undergo $332 million in construction to build and renovate approximately a million square feet in facilities for incoming missions.

"Wright-Patterson will be responsible for 46 percent of Air Force Materiel Command's BRAC dollars," Col. Ryan noted. "In the end, approximately $413 million will be executed in the span of six years to accomplish these mission transfers."

According to Col. Ryan, the need to attract highly specialized scientists, engineers and medical personnel to fill many of the positions coming to the base will pose a challenge, but partnerships, collaboration and effective recruiting can enable the base to surmount those obstacles.

"Our biggest asset that can be exploited is the very idea that Wright-Patterson is about to become the center of excellence for human performance and the center of excellence for sensor research," Col. Ryan said. "This region is about to become the tip of the spear for anyone wanting to be part of the cutting edge in those career fields.

"Work will be done here that will not be done anywhere else. That's a pretty powerful motivator, and this should be our mantra of any individual or organization hoping to make our BRAC transition a success."

On March 25, AFRL officials formally activated the 711 Human Performance Wing, creating a joint center of excellence for human performance. Various units from Brooks City Base, Texas, - Human Effectiveness Directorate, 311 Human Systems Wing's Performance Enhancement Directorate, Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and Air Force Institute of Operational Health - will move to Wright-Patterson AFB, along with the Human Effectiveness Directorate from Mesa, Arizona, and the 49 Aeromedical Dental Operations Squadron from Holloman AFB, N.M., to consolidate into the 711 HPW.

Sensors directorates from Hansom AFB, Mass., and Rome, New York will relocate to Wright-Patterson AFB to form a sensors center of excellence.

Other units coming to Wright-Patterson AFB include the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory from Pensacola Naval Air Station, Fla., and the 77 Aeronautical Systems Group from Brooks City Base, Texas.