Tuesday, September 21, 2010

NEW BASE NAMES - A COMENTARY

I just received my electronic version of The Afterburner(http://www.retirees.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100920-010.pdf), news for retired personnel. The thing that caught my eye was the article on page 7, "Bases get new names in realignment".


Let me quote one particular part:

Seven bases received new names in January: ... Lackland and Randolph Air Force bases and Fort Sam Houston, Texas, became Joint Base San Antonio, led by the Air Force

Wow, Randolph is now part to Joint Base San Antonio. Fort Sam is now part of Joint Base San Antonio.

I know I'm just an old geezer, but I don't think I am going to feel comfortable using that new nomenclature. I guess this is part of the long running Goldwater-Nichols (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater%E2%80%93Nichols_Act)  saga to make a more coherent, joint force. It looks like it has been in the works for a while since Fort Lewis-McChord AFB have been "have been preparing for joint basing since 2006".

Ah, well, I guess I just have to get used to change.

Ron Bergquist
zielbewusst@gmail.com

3 comments:

Ro-Hawk/Gloria said...

testing

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Good news, Ron. We won't have to use this bureaucratic mouthful according to an article last week in the San Antonio Express-News (and picked up the Texas news folks. Please see the article and URL below). The key sentence is "Each of the three installations will retain its name and military heritage." Regards, Jerry Ball, '65.

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Fort Sam civilian workers move to Air Force

SAN ANTONIO — Civilian Army workers at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio are joining the Air Force.

More than 1,100 of the civilian workers will become civilian Air Force workers as San Antonio's three major military installations are combined as Joint Base San Antonio.

The 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission formed the joint base to consolidate support operations for Fort Sam Houston and Lackland and Randolph Air Force bases under the Air Force.

The San Antonio Express-News reports the last step in the process comes Friday when the Army transfers all of Fort Sam Houston's real estate and budget to the Air Force.

That doesn't mean Fort Sam's getting its Army discharge. Each of the three installations will retain its name and military heritage.

Source:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7226901.html

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