mr. chairman , i rise reluctantly in support of this motion . 
i have always supported the brac . 
i have been here through three of these , and i always thought they were well reasoned before , win , lose or draw ; and by the standards of win , lose or draw , i probably came out okay in a lot of ways in this , because four out of five facilities in my area did well . 
the army did well in this brac . 
but i always thought the brac was based upon numbers and savings and mission , and suddenly i find out that is not true . 
i am going to read something here in a minute about that . 
that is what troubles me in this one , because the air force set out on a plan to arrive at a number , and they destroyed , in my opinion , much of what one of their components does best , and that is the air national guard . 
let me give you an example . 
at mansfield , ohio , they realigned the base . 
`` realignment '' means you do not technically get brac'ed , but you get no airplanes , so you have to find something else to do . 
let me tell you , the soldiers that were in the dome shortly after katrina were ohio army guardsmen . 
they were flown there in 130s out of mansfield . 
the soldiers that were in mississippi from ohio were flown down by 130s from mansfield . 
the soldiers that were in texas from ohio were flown in by 130s from mansfield . 
when brac gets done , there are not any airplanes at mansfield . 
so how many days are we going to wait to come in and pick those people up and bring them down ? 
because we have still got a large army guard that can perform , and they have shown they can perform ; but 2 years from now , that is not going to happen . 
that does not look smart to me . 
if you look at the chart that shows the support in the hurricane by the air national guard , it is far superior to what the air reserve did or especially the active duty in response to these hurricanes . 
that is not going to be there 2 years from now . 
now , closer to home , my springfield air national guard base . 
it is a training base . 
i did not ask to do this mission . 
the air guard and the air force came to me and said , we screwed up . 
we have closed much of our flight training . 
we need another place to do this . 
will your state take this on ? 
my state said it will . 
they came to me , i was chairman of the milcon , if you wonder how they came to me . 
they said , will you take this on at your springfield f-16 base ? 
we saluted and said , yes , sir , we will do it . 
we put in over $ 85 million to make this a first-class flight school . 
we have not even opened the $ 8.5 million tower yet . 
we just finished the fire station . 
we put in a $ 10 million pad . 
and what do we find out ? 
we are being realigned . 
`` realigned '' means you lose your airplanes ; you lose your mission . 
what are we going to do ? 
now i find out there is another mission available for flight school , but they want to take it and possibly put it in another place , someplace else , and spend the money again and take these airplanes . 
let me tell you what the commission 's findings were regarding springfield air national guard base . 
i am upset because they always did this by the numbers in the past . 
this was not done by the numbers , and that is why i am so infuriated about what happened , because i do not mind a fair fight . 
we thought we had this won , until the air force went to the commissioners at the last moment and said , hey , you have got to change this , because they were going in the right direction the day before . 
the next day when they got up , i knew we were dead . 
let me read the commission findings : `` the commission found that the department of defense recommendation to realign springfield-beckley municipal airport air guard station should be supported even though the military value criteria were flawed and the realignment will be a cost instead of a savings to the department. '' i mean , give me a break . 
it is flawed and there is no savings ; but , by the way , the mission is going away , and we are not going to train these pilots . 
this place is training pilots better than they were expected to do and more than they were expected to do , and yet it is being realigned . 
the airplanes are gone . 
if we are going to do this this way , this is wrong and we have to stand up and say it is wrong . 
i think this happened in more instances than just mine , and that is why i am so upset about the way this was done . 
it was not done by the numbers ; it was done to drive to a number that the air force had to get to to save some airplanes like the f-22 and some other things . 
so i am just hoping the people will vote in support of the resolution . 
mr. chairman , i rise today to support this resolution of disapproval on the base realignment and closure commission 's ( brac ) recommendations that are now before congress . 
this is not a decision that i have come to lightly . 
during this latest brac round , there were several recommendations made that will benefit the state of ohio and the 7th congressional district that i represent . 
however , i can not in good conscience accept a process that was fundamentally flawed and very unfair in the decisions made with regard to our country 's national guard and reserve . 
i represent four military bases , including the springfield air national guard base ( ang ) , the defense supply center columbus ( dscc ) , wright patterson air force base ( afb ) , and rickenbacker international airport . 
each of these military installations has an exceptional workforce dedicated to the military missions assigned to them , whether it is logistical support for deployed troops , research and development , or pilot training . 
mr. chairman , this is the third brac round that i have been through , so i understand the importance of community leaders and base officials doing the homework necessary to define the installation 's military value , and the potential economic impact this process will have on communities where bases are located . 
during this latest round , i would argue that ohio had some of the most hardworking and competent individuals working on behalf of our state 's installations . 
we testified at hearings in buffalo and washington , dc , and briefed brac commissioners and staff during site visits to dscc in columbus and to wright-patterson . 
we also worked together in reviewing the numbers used by the pentagon in making their brac recommendations . 
mr. chairman , i think that i can speak for other delegations when stating that our efforts in getting information from the air force during this brac round did not start well . 
when we requested material on how they came to their recommendations , we did n't receive it for weeks . 
and when we did receive the data , it was inaccurate . 
as i 've already stated , i was very disappointed by the dod and brac commission 's final recommendations with regard to the air national guard . 
this was especially true regarding their recommendations to redistribute the 178th fighter wing f-16 aircraft from the springfield air national guard base . 
i have said all along that if the brac process had been fair and done `` by the numbers '' , that i would accept the outcome , even if i did n't like it . 
but unfortunately , this was not the case . 
first of all , the brac analysis material stated there is only one f-16 formal training unit in the air national guard . 
this is wrong ! 
there are two air national guard f-16 formal training units , and one of them is at the springfield ang base . 
second , i was asked several years ago if i would support springfield taking on this training mission that would require specialized infrastructure to support it . 
i was the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee for military construction at the time , and i agreed to support the air force in this effort . 
more than $ 75 million in federal funding has been invested in the springfield base to support its f-16 training mission . 
over the years , we have put in a new ramp to accommodate the plane , a flight simulator , a dining hall , an operations building , and a new control tower that is still under construction . 
some of these assets are only now becoming operational . 
third , everyone agrees there are no cost savings achieved by realigning the springfield ang base . 
in fact , the commission actually concluded in its report that dod 's `` recommendation to realign the springfield base should be supported even though the military value criteria were flawed and the realignment will be a cost instead of savings to the pentagon. '' fourth , the air force lacks sufficient training capacity for f-16 pilots . 
if we further reduce this capacity through this proposed realignment , it even further diminishes this capability , especially since this unit is the highest f-16 pilot production unit in the guard . 
the brac analysis on springfield shows that operational personnel will begin to leave the base in 2007 , while there are student pilots scheduled for training in 2008 . 
mr. chairman , there is also the issue of homeland security . 
like some of my colleagues , i think it is fair for us to consider what these brac recommendations will mean for the future of the national guard in responding to emergency situations . 
as we saw in the days following the recent hurricanes in the gulf coast region and on 9/11 , the air national guard was a critical resource in transporting troops , supplies and protection . 
for example , the mansfield , ohio-based 179th airlift wing flew over 50 missions in support of hurricane katrina relief efforts . 
yet , homeland security did not appear to be a major part of this brac process . 
overall , i was very disappointed in the process by which the air national guard decisions were made , particularly the flaws in the air force analysis . 
these flaws run throughout the entire brac process , from the consolidation of aircraft models , and the so-called right sizing of operations , to the poor or nonexistent analysis of the cost to replace the people from the locations that are being set aside . 
this does n't even consider the recruiting and retention issues that we already face . 
and , it does n't speak to the cost of personnel training to recreate this capability , and the loss of experience that will occur by the air force plans . 
finally , i was dismayed that there was absolutely no discussion by the brac commissioners or staff regarding the national guard recommendations during the final considerations on august 26th . 
until then , there was much talk about the lack of consultation and the quality of the recommendations by the air force throughout this brac round . 
there was even the suggestion that the entire set should have been thrown out by the brac commission . 
on the day the brac commission upheld their recommendation to realign the springfield air national guard base , i wrote a letter to each brac commissioner to express my disappointment with the way they handled decisions regarding the national guard . 
i pointed out that there was no discussion when , by the numbers , we had demonstrated the flaws in the pentagon 's proposal . 
i also asked for an explanation on how the commissioners arrived at their decision , and i received no answer . 
finally , in early september , i wrote to the president requesting the same information , and for his consideration to send the recommendations impacting the air national guard back to the brac commission with instructions to use programmatic changes to reshape our state militia forces . 
unfortunately , for the men and women in the guard and reserve , i am still waiting for a reply . 
as i stated before , opposing the brac recommendations was not an easy decision . 
overall , ohio faired well during the commission 's final proceedings . 
wright-patterson will keep over 2 , 000 information and technology jobs that were to be transferred to hanscom , massachusetts , and it will also keep a first-class post-graduate program known as the air force institute of technology ( afit ) . 
in columbus , the defense supply center will maintain its 6 , 000 jobs , and is scheduled to receive many high-paying jobs . 
but , mr. chairman , i think that in the years to come when the recommendations regarding the guard and reserve are set in motion , people will realize that this latest brac round was flawed , and consequently the wrong thing to do . 
it is for these reasons that i will stand here today and support this resolution to overturn the 2005 brac recommendations . 
