Hutchison: The Army has few installations that can match the ranges maneuver areas and rapid deployment capability available at Fort Bliss."
It might be a long shot but U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is working to bring more soldiers to Texas posts -- including Fort Bliss --from as far away as Colorado. Hutchison has her sights on soldiers at Fort Carson Colo. which has run into problems expanding a training range about 150 miles southeast of the post. The Texas Republican said those soldiers would have the best training available in the Army and could be rapidly deployed overseas from either Fort Bliss or Fort Hood which is in central Texas.
Fort Carson does not have the training ranges that are easily accessible to keep these troops in good shape Hutchi son said.
She is speaking with top Army officials to try to relocate those soldiers to Texas.
But she said there is another possibility for sending additional soldiers to Fort Bliss that has more potential.
The Army announced last week it would relocate a 3800-soldier armored brigade combat team that initially was headed to White Sands Missile Range. White Sands lost the brigade but Hutchison said it would be appropriate to send it to Fort Bliss.
The Army has few installations that can match the ranges maneuver areas and rapid deployment capability available at Fort Bliss and McGregor Range she said.
Pentagon executives also announced last week that Fort Bliss would not receive a brigade combat team with about 3450 soldiers. It was scheduled to arrive in 2011. Fort Bliss already was planning to receive the grow-the-Army brigade that was cut Hutchison said so it could accommodate the White Sands brigade.
Youve already got the living quarters the fitness center and the training facilities at Fort Bliss she said.
The White Sands brigade was scheduled to arrive in 2013 from Germany as part of the militarys overseas realignment.
However the Army is reconsidering whether it should maintain a military presence in Europe. That also could affect another brigade in Germany that was scheduled for relocation to Fort Bliss.
Decisions on what will happen to those two brigades are to be announced next year as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review a study of the nations military conducted every four years military officials have said.
Hutchison said she was concerned about the Army spending too much time and money reevaluating a decision that was made originally on the merits. She said locating the brigades at Fort Bliss would save money and provide soldiers the best possible training.
U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes D-Texas declined to discuss details because of ongoing negotiations but he said Fort Bliss has the capacity to receive thousands more soldiers.
Fort Bliss and White Sands training ranges Reyes said combine to make the largest contiguous training area in the United States with terrain that closely mirrors that of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas has said he will lobby the Obama administration to reconsider cutting the number of Army brigade combat teams. The Army needs those additional brigades to increase the time soldiers are home between deployments he said.
Hutchisons interest in Fort Carson stems from problems the Army is having expanding the Pion Canyon Maneuver Site. A coalition of farmers ranchers and environmentalists has formed to block the proposed 100000-acre expansion which is on hold. The group has received support from some Democratic lawmakers in the state.
We didnt make our case as well as we should have said Dave Foster an Army spokes man at the Pentagon.
Asked whether the quality of training at Fort Carson would suffer without the expansion Foster would say only There are a lot of things that will help us do that job a lot better but our obligation to the job doesnt stop with whatever limitations there are.
*This story is from the El Paso Times
