US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is proposing to close and shrink hundreds of bases to create a leaner, more cost-effective force.
If accepted, the plan would alter the domestic military landscape and greatly affect the four services branches and communities that are home to the installations.
The plan promises to shift troops and jobs from the Northeast to the Sunbelt and the West, and it would consoldiate scores of Reserve and Guard sites across the map. Mergers throughout the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps would create super-sized multipurpose bases.
Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are to testify Monday before a congressionally chartered commission that will review the base closing proposal before sending it to President Bush this fall, <i>The AP</i> reported.
The plan recommends closing or reducing forces at 62 major bases and reconfiguring hundreds of others — 775 "minor closures and realignments" to be exact — to save billions of dollars a year.
