Battle to Keep Recruit Bases Is Shaping Up

“This is going to be a war of evidence,” declared Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado).

But clearly, the battle to preserve San Diego’s Naval Training Center and Marine Corps Recruit Depot is more than that.

At stake are a $400-million annual boost to the local economy and the reputations of local politicians who are pitting their clout and wits against their Florida counterparts, fighting to protect their own Orlando Naval Training Center.

Today, two members of the Defense Base Closures and Realignment Commission will visit San Diego’s NTC and MCRD. During a daylong hearing and tour, local politicians and businessmen will tout their town, unfurl charts and strut their statistics.

As the Navy pares down from 545 to 451 ships by fiscal 1995, experts have concluded that only two of the three training centers currently serving the nation will be needed. In a surprise move earlier this month, the bipartisan commission announced that it would spare the NTC in Great Lakes, Ill., and left San Diego’s NTC on the hit list.

In April, the Pentagon prepared its own list and recommended closing the Orlando NTC. Because of that list, most local politicians and leaders believed that the battle of the bases did not involve San Diego. But the city was suddenly tossed into the fray when the commission issued its suggestions.

“Orlando had months to prepare their evidence,” lamented Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego). Nor has the city sunk as much money into the campaign--Orlando has spent $75,000 in its efforts to woo the commission, Cunningham said. And further, all seven members of the commission hail from the East Coast.

Can the city that lost its bid to lure another Super Bowl and the Republican convention protect its bases?

“If it’s based on merit, we’ll win,” Cunningham predicted.

The commission, however, has not yet agreed. The Navy ranked the San Diego base third in overall quality of its facilities, the commission reported. Most of the facility’s 279 buildings were described as “inadequate and not up-to-date” by the commission, which added that the base’s 546 acres could not be significantly expanded to accommodate any surge in recruits.

Undaunted, local leaders downplay the condition of the facilities.

“The Gulf war was not won by buildings but by people--the people we trained in San Diego,” Hunter said.

The commission will present its final hit list to Congress July on 1. Congress has 45 days to approve or reject the list in its entirety.

Last week, a hastily formed coalition of San Diego business and political leaders met to draw up battle plans for today’s hearing. Congressional representatives will join commission members Howard H. Callaway and Robert D. Stuart Jr. at 7 a.m. Monday as they tour NTC, visiting MCRD later in the day.

MCRD, which trains more than half the 40,000 Marines recruited annually, is being considered a candidate for realignment, meaning a reduction in size and mission. MCRD currently has 7,000 active-duty Marines, 600 full-time civilian employees and 250 part-time employees. But because it doesn’t face extinction, coalition members are focusing most of their efforts on saving NTC.

For San Diego, closing or realigning the bases would mean a loss of $302 million annually to the local economy from payroll and services, as well as a loss of another $100 million from tourists who combine sight-seeing with visits to see graduating relatives.

But coalition members realize that while these figures are meaningful to the city, they will mean nothing to the Washington-based commission, which will be preparing its list with an eye to the nation.

During the course of the commission members’ visit, Cunningham, Hunter and others will try to pound home the key reasons for keeping San Diego’s facilities open:

* To close Orlando and move equipment to other commands would cost $397 million. In San Diego, it would be $549 million.

* Because San Diego is located next to the fleet and port, personnel frequently transfer from a local command to NTC--saving the Navy $13 million a year in relocation expenses.

* Being located side-by-side with the fleet allows officers to better utilize the facility’s 142 schools.

* Relocating the San Diego facility would disrupt the training pipeline for nearly 8,500 students.

* Allowing the local facility to stay open will better the Navy’s retention rates and enhance the quality of life for local Navy personnel because frequent moves and family separation are the most cited reasons by sailors who quit the Navy. Because Orlando is not located near any commands, attending schools there would require another move after courses were completed.

* Navy officials themselves opted to keep open San Diego and shut Orlando.

* If San Diego were closed, it would take more than 100 years for the Defense Department to recoup its investment. If Orlando closed, the department would recoup its investment in 16 years.

As local officials circled the wagons and prepared for battle, their tension became almost palpable. Local television stations and newspapers were blitzed with information sheets.

Press conferences were held at the San Diego Greater Chamber of Commerce and NTC. And a recent San Diego Tribune editorial touting base-closing as an opportunity, not a financial blow, brought groans and was likened to friendly fire.

“The military is important to our region, but it’s not a high-income generator,” according to the June 5 editorial. “Rather than fretting about possible base closures, we should be thinking about our future. The closings could be a blessing in disguise.”

Commission members waved the editorial, saying, “San Diego doesn’t want its base,” said Cunningham, who rallied with others to repair the damage.

“That editorial writer didn’t know what he was talking about,” Hunter said.

Hoping to gain more ammunition, Hunter and Cunningham met last week with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Jaquelyn Schaefer.

According to Schaefer, if San Diego loses its battle, a federal law mandates that the Navy turn over the NTC land, because it is next to an airport, to the San Diego Unified Port District. But if Orlando closed, the land could be sold--allowing military officials to pick up thousands of dollars, Hunter said.

Schaefer’s analysis “throws cold water on the notion that somehow closing down San Diego would be profitable for the Department of Defense,” said Hunter, who acknowledged that NTC’s land has been valued at more than $200 million.

“The commission is looking to save real money,” Hunter said, “the only way they are going to save real money is closing down Orlando.”