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Senators OK 2008 base construction plans

Seventeen more Army barracks projects and two bachelor enlisted quarters projects for wounded Marines are part of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s plan to help installations handle an expanding active-duty force.

The senators agreed to provide $2.7 billion, as requested by the Bush administration, for military construction related to the “grow the force” proposal to increase active-duty strength in the Army and the Marine Corps by 92,000 people over five years.

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List of Marine Corps projects

List of Army projects

Most of the “grow the force” projects relate to construction of barracks or operational facilities. But the senators did add a child development center and health and dental clinic at Fort Riley, Kan., which will also get an influx of families from base realignment and closure and overseas restationing changes.

The senators also added funds for a hospital expansion and dental clinic at Fort Carson, Colo., and a health and dental clinic at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Outside the “grow the force” projects, senators have proposed building extra child development centers at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Charleston AFB, S.C.; and Fort Hood, Texas.

The extra barracks projects related to the increasing forces are proposed for:

• Fort Richardson and Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

• Fort Carson, Colo.

• Fort Stewart, Ga.

• Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, Kan.

• Fort Campbell, Ky.

• Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. (barracks plus dining facility)

• Fort Drum, N.Y.

• Fort Bragg, N.C.

• Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

• Fort Eustis (two) and Fort Myer, Va.

• Fort Lewis, Wash.

The wounded warrior bachelor enlisted quarters for Marines are proposed for Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Other Marine projects

The senators also proposed an Advanced Individual Training complex for Fort Huachuca, Ariz., for $105 million, and a basic training complex at Fort Jackson, S.C., for another $85 million.

The Senate committee also added some other projects to its plan. About $235 million of the proposed $21.6 billion for military construction would go to National Guard and reserve projects, including troop dorms for the Savannah, Ga., Air National Guard for $9 million, and a field maintenance shop for the Army National Guard in Florence, Ariz., for $10.9 million.

Senators also proposed deleting some projects requested by the administration — such as the Pentagon’s planned $18.5 million in electrical upgrades, and a $10 million request for facilities and land acquisition at the Naval Outlying Landing Field in Washington County, N.C. They also proposed removing a $2.9 million western taxiway project from the Navy in Djibouti.

While Guam is expected to burgeon in population due to overseas rebasing moves, the committee proposed reducing funding for a fitness center at the naval base there from $45 million to $30 million; reducing by about half, to $51 million, funding for a Kilo wharf extension; and cutting $10 million from a $57 million project for construction work on 73 housing units at Old Apra housing area.

The committee also shifted another $75 million in funds for Navy family housing construction improvements to instead fund Marine Corps family housing as part of the “grow the force” initiative.