TRADOC Reorg

DoD recommendations to move headquarters, consolidate 7 TRADOC schools
By Lisa Alley/TRADOC News Service

FORT MONROE, Va. (TRADOC News Service, May 13, 2005) – The Defense Department’s 2005 base realignment and closure recommendations released this morning have two major recurring themes: consolidation to achieve military value, and Joint usage. Consolidation will combine seven U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command centers and schools, while Joint usage will establish several Joint centers of excellence at installations that currently host TRADOC schools.

DoD’s recommendations are outlined in Vol. 2, a 398-page report containing the details, found on-line at http://www.defenselink.mil/brac/pdf/Vol_I_Part_2_DOD_BRAC.pdf.

TRADOC headquarters
If, as DoD recommends, Fort Monroe closes, Headquarters TRADOC would move to Fort Eustis, Va., to stay within commuting distance of Joint Forces Command headquarters in Norfolk, Va. U.S. Army Accessions Command and U.S. Army Cadet Command headquarters would move to Fort Knox, Ky., along with the Army’s Human Resources Command (moving from leased facilities in Alexandria ,Va.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and St. Louis, Mo.), to join U.S. Army Recruiting Command in a nexus that will create “a center of excellence for military personnel and recruiting functions by improving personnel lifecycle management.”

“This process is just beginning, but I see an opportunity for the Army and TRADOC to become more efficient, modernize our infrastructure and improve how we train,” said Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes, TRADOC’s commanding general. “(Throughout the process), I am committed to keeping (everyone) informed and taking care of our people.”

Consolidation
Seven TRADOC branch schools would consolidate into centers patterned after the Maneuver Support Center at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., which combines the military police, engineer and chemical centers and schools. DoD’s recommended actions include:

The Air Defense Artillery Center and School, Fort Bliss, Texas, would combine with the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Okla., to establish a Net Fires Center at Fort Sill, which would consolidate net fires training and doctrine development at one location.
“This recommendation improves the MANSCEN concept by consolidating functionally related branch centers and schools, which fosters consistency, standardization and training proficiency,” according to DoD’s BRAC report. “It also facilitates task force stabilization by combining operational forces with institutional training. In addition, it consolidates both ADA and field artillery Skill Level I courses at one location, which allows the Army to reduce the total number of military-occupation skills training locations (reducing the TRADOC footprint). … It improves training capabilities while eliminating excess capacity at institutional training installations.”

The Armor Center and School, Fort Knox, Ky., would move to Fort Benning, Ga., to consolidate with the Infantry Center and School into a Maneuver Center of Excellence for ground-forces training and doctrine development. Consolidation joins both infantry and armor one-station unit training, allowing the Army to reduce the number of basic combat training locations from five to four (Forts Jackson, Sill and Leonard Wood would be the other three besides Fort Benning).
The Armor Center would be replaced at Knox by the 84th Army Reserve Regional Training Center, moving from Fort McCoy, Wis., and by engineer, military police and combat-service-support units relocating from Europe and Korea under the Integrated Global Presence and Basing Strategy realignments.

DoD plans to create a Combat Service Support Center at Fort Lee, Va., by moving the Ordnance Center and School from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and the Transportation Center and School at Fort Eustis, and merging them with the Combined Arms Support Command, the Quartermaster Center and School and the Army Logistic Management College at Fort Lee. The Missile and Munitions Center would also move from Redstone Arsenal, Ala., to Fort Lee to be part of the new CSS Center. This would consolidate CSS training and doctrine development at one installation.
Other consolidation that would affect TRADOC includes:

The Aviation Center and School, Fort Rucker, Ala., would gain the Aviation Logistics School from Fort Eustis, which would consolidate aviation training and doctrine development at a single location.
DoD is recommending that the drill-sergeant schools at Fort Benning and Fort Leonard Wood be relocated and consolidated with the DSS at Fort Jackson, S.C. This would consolidate drill-sergeant training from three locations to one, which fosters consistency, standardization and training proficiency.
Joint centers
Fort Lee would also become the home of two Joint centers: one for consolidated transportation-management training and another for Joint culinary training.

Transportation-management training would move from Lackland AFB, Texas, to Lee to consolidate similar service schools. As home of the most military-transportation training, Fort Lee would become the Joint Center for Consolidated Transportation Management training.

The Air Force’s culinary training would also leave Lackland AFB, to be relocated at Lee, which would be established as the Joint Center of Excellence for Culinary Training. The Army Center of Excellence-Subsistence is already located at Fort Lee. Lee was chosen because it’s the installation with the largest service requirement for culinary training, according to the DoD BRAC report.

Another Joint training center to be established would be the Joint Center of Excellence for Religious Training and Education at Fort Jackson, S.C. The home of the Army’s Chaplain School would gain other services’ religious training and education from Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; and Naval Station Newport, R.I.

“Consolidation at Fort Jackson creates a synergistic benefit by having each service’s officer and enlisted programs conducted in close proximity to operational forces,” according to the DoD report. “Realized savings result from consolidation and alignment of similar officer and enlisted educational activities and the merging of common support functions.”

Other recommended changes
Other recommended changes that would affect TRADOC include:

2nd Recruiting Brigade would move to Redstone Arsenal, Ala., since DoD recommended that the brigade’s present home of Fort McPherson, Ga., close.
The U.S. Army Reserve’s 95th Division (Institutional Training) would move to Fort Sill, as the facility it is based at – the Maj. Gen. Harry Twaddle United States Armed Forces Reserve Center, Oklahoma City, Okla. – would close.
The USAR’s 100th Div. (IT), Louisville, Ky., would move nearby – onto Fort Knox – as part of DoD’s BRAC recommendations.
The Army Prime Power School would move from Fort Belvoir to Fort Leonard Wood, since courses at this school are engineer branch courses and the Engineer Center serves as the service engineer proponent. This realignment would consolidate engineer courses at Fort Leonard Wood.
DoD is recommending relocation of several service correctional facilities from Lackland AFB, Fort Knox and Fort Sill to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and consolidating them as a single Level II Joint regional correctional facility – one of five Level II Joint facilities. The Midwestern Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth would consolidate the Lackland Confinement Facility; the Army Regional Correctional Facility, Fort Knox; the Army Regional Correctional Facility, Fort Sill; and the components of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth.
Next steps
BRAC is considered an essential step in the transformation of the Army and other military services, maximizing their capabilities to work together more effectively while providing substantial savings in military spending.

DoD’s recommendations will be reviewed by the nine-member independent BRAC commission. The commission, chaired by former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, must submit its recommendations to President George W. Bush by Sept. 8.

Next steps are that the BRAC commission will hold regional meetings to solicit public input before making its recommendations to the president in September. The president then forwards the recommendations to Congress, which has 45 legislative days to act on the report.

Under the BRAC statute, actions to close or realign an installation must be initiated within two years after Congressional approval, with completion in six years.

TRADOC’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Infrastructure and Logistics has established a Website that includes the TRADOC civilian personnel, engineering and environmental issues related to BRAC. All affected TRADOC activities are included. The site will also link to fact sheets on civilian-personnel issues such as reductions-in-force, realignments and transfers of function.

The Web address of DCSPIL’s site is http://www.tradoc.army.mil/dcspil/cpd/brac.htm.

For other information on BRAC and how it affects installations nationwide, visit DoD’s BRAC Website at http://www.dod.mil/brac and the Army BRAC Website at http://www.hqda.army.mil/acsim/brac/braco.htm