Reserve, Guard may share facility

WASHINGTON -- The Army Reserve center in McCook would be closed under a Defense Department recommendation, but its operations may move to a new facility operated jointly with the the local Nebraska National Guard Unit, according to information from Sen. Ben Nelson's office.

The senator reacted cautiously Friday to the plan to close 33 major military bases and realign 29 more.

Responding to recommendations to close Army Reserve Centers in Columbus, Grand Island, Kearney, Wymore, McCook and Hastings, Nelson's office said new information indicated that the recommendation is to close the existing centers in those cities but to relocate the units to new Armed Forces Reserve Centers in those cities if the Army is able to acquire land suitable for the construction of the facilities.

The new centers will be capable of accommodating Nebraska National Guard Units and the Army Reservists in a joint use facility.

In the case of the Reserve Center in Wymore, it would be relocated to a new center in or near Beatrice and would accommodate Army National Guard Units from Fairbury, Falls City and Beatrice.

In the case of Hastings, the BRAC report recommends closing the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Hastings and relocating units to a new Armed Forces Reserve Center at the Greenlief Training Site in Hastings. The new center will have the capability to accommodate Nebraska National Guard units from the Guard Readiness Centers in Grand Island, Crete, and Hastings.

Nelson said while he would have preferred to see no losses he pointed out that the Department of Defense provided him with an economic impact statement that states the loss of employment in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area amounts to less than 0.1 percent.