Panel Votes to Scale Back March AFB : Defense: Action would mean the loss of nearly 2,600 military jobs. Installation would become a reserve facility.

WASHINGTON — As part of a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s largest Air Force installations, the presidential base closing commission approved a Pentagon plan Thursday to scale back March Air Force Base in Riverside County to a reserve facility.

The action, if it is accepted by President Clinton and Congress, would cost nearly 2,600 military jobs. The Defense Department originally estimated that 1,000 civilian workers would also be in jeopardy but recently said that few, if any, of those personnel will be affected by the changes, according to congressional sources.

The restructuring of March means that 19 of its KC-10 refueling planes will be transferred to Travis Air Force Base, although it would retain 20 of the large tanker planes in its new reserve status. Some smaller commands would also be kept at March in the restructuring.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside) said the action was misguided.

“It is still difficult for me to understand how Secretary (Les) Aspin could endorse an Air Force base recommendation to realign a base that is the primary point of embarkation for a third of our nation’s fighting Marines,” Calvert said. But the freshman congressman expressed hope that the Air Force would rethink its decision on March before the next round of base closings in 1995.

The commission’s action on March was one of several key actions taken Thursday to trim large Air Force bases nationwide. According to the Air Force, it has an excess of four or five large domestic bases.

The Pentagon wanted Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York to become the East Coast “air mobility base,” which combines airlift and refueling planes. But the commission broke with the Defense Department recommendation and instead selected McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey for that role. The commission voted to close Plattsburgh.

The action is believed to be the first time that the base closing panel has voted to shut a major base not first recommended by the Department of Defense for closure.

The commission also voted, in step with Pentagon wishes, to realign Griffiss Air Force Base in New York and close K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan.

Commissioner Robert D. Stuart, who made the motion to close Sawyer, expressed regret over inflicting pain on a part of the country “that got whacked hard last time.” The projected unemployment caused by the Sawyer base closure is 24.2% in that area.

In a show of support for the southern Florida region devastated by Hurricane Andrew last year, the commission ignored a Pentagon recommendation to close Homestead Air Force Base. Instead, the panel voted to realign the damaged base for a long-term savings about equal to closing it entirely.

“This is not what the Air Force wants,” said Commission Chairman James Courter, “but that hasn’t stopped us before.”

During the past two days, the commission has altered Defense Department or service recommendations at least eight times.

One case was an Army plan to close the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey. Aspin did not include the school on his list issued in mid-March, but the commission added it to ensure that the school’s fate could be analyzed by the commission staff.

On Thursday, the commission made good on its promise to spare the facility after delaying a day to decide which support facilities it wanted to preserve for students and faculty. The motion to save the school specified that the housing units, commissary, post exchange and child-care facilities be retained.

In another act of independence, the commission voted to reject an Army recommendation to scale back Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pa., and spread its workload--mainly tactical missile maintenance--to private contractors and other defense depots. Three of those depots are in California--at Alameda Navy Depot, the Marine Corps Logistics Base at Barstow and Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

Under the commission’s plan, the Chambersburg facility’s workload would grow and take jobs away from the California missile maintenance bases--and five others nationwide. About 175 California jobs at the three sites are at stake.

In a related move, the commission realigned the Tooele Army Depot in Utah, a virtually brand-new depot for vehicle maintenance that cost $115 million. In what Courter called “an excruciatingly difficult vote,” the commission voted to scale back the base because alternative solutions were too costly or militarily unwise.

Today, the commission will ponder the fate of McClellan Air Force Base, East and West Coast naval bases and shipyards.

The commission is scheduled to work through the weekend and send its final list of closures and realignments to President Clinton by Thursday. If Clinton approves, then Congress must accept or reject the list without changes.