CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Despite Joint Base Charleston not scheduled to stand up until Oct. 1, 2010, people have started asking what will happen to jobs, people and the effects the merge will have on both the Air Force and the Navy.
Here is the straight scoop on what Joint Basing means for those working at Charleston AFB and Naval Weapons Station Charleston:
The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Base Realignment and Closure committee say Joint Basing is a concept, which calls for two or more adjacent or nearby installations to consolidate installation management functions and be run by a designated service, which in the case of Joint Base Charleston, will be the Air Force.
With 26 installations required to realign under Joint Basing, the Department of Defense is hoping to save millions of dollars over the next 20 years.
While Lt. Col. Kevin Riley, 437th Airlift Wing Joint Base Charleston coordinator, said any number of savings is only an estimate right now, savings will be seen in efficiencies.
"We'll get things done better and smarter," he said.
Who will be in charge of Joint Base Charleston?
An Air Force colonel will be the Joint Base commander while a Navy captain will be the deputy commander, said Colonel Riley.
"Both the Air Force commander and the Navy commander will be on command orders for two reasons," he added. "The first, is if the Air Force commander were to become incapacitated for any reason, there are provisions that would allow for the Navy deputy commander to take short-term command. The second part is, Navy military personnel will need someone to report to within their chain of command who is still Navy."
Will there be any organizational changes?
To manage Joint Base Charleston, the 437 AW will be split into two organizations. The 437th Airlift Wing will retain both the 437th Operations and Maintenance Groups. The 437th Mission Support and Medical Groups, with the existing 437 AW staff, will move to a new Air Base Wing organization to be stood up this fall. Another big change under this structure is the 437th Aerial Port Squadron will realign under the maintenance group, said Colonel Riley.
The bulk of the people transferring over to Joint Base Charleston from the Navy will be sprinkled throughout the new Air Base Wing. Additionally, the new wing picks up the Navy Port Operations.
OSD and BRAC indicate the merging of the two installations does not mean the missions will become joint.
They say the intent is not to compromise the war-fighting capabilities of Charleston AFB and Naval Weapons Station Charleston, but to combine the support functions and eliminate any duplication and redundancy to save funds and make the installations more efficient.
Will civilians lose their jobs during the transition? "Nobody's job is in jeopardy," said Colonel Riley. "The job description may change a bit and it may say Air Force instead of Navy, but at this point in time nobody's going to lose their job."
Because the Air Force is the lead agency for the transition, all Navy civilian jobs will transfer into Air Force positions
What will happen to each service's specific traditions?
"There are a lot of traditions at the weapons station and a lot of traditions here at Charleston AFB," said Colonel Riley. "We are not trying to get rid of anything. The idea is to take the best of both sides and merge them together to make a joint base.
"Everyone who is on board with Joint Base Charleston has really been trying to make it work. The attitudes are positive and the enthusiasm is great," he said. "What we have done is taken the best of both people [Air Force and Navy] and merged them together," he said. "The talent over at the NWSC is wonderful and we are looking forward to a bright future."
While there are still many unknowns with Joint Base Charleston, there will be town hall meetings and briefings during commander's calls to inform Team Charleston members about Joint Base Charleston.
"We are working on getting the word out that Joint Base Charleston is coming, and it's a good thing," Colonel Riley said.