Well, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) has decided to close Otis Air National Guard Base some time in 2008.
BRAC decided that Otis’ fleet of F-15s will be sent to Barnes Municipal Airport Air Guard Station in Westfield**, MA, which will in turn lose its A-10 attack jets to bases in other states.
There were, of course, the expected cries of dismay and “disbelief” from our politicians, including Republican Governor Mitt Romney, who probably figured that saving Otis was “in the bag” as a quid pro for his outspoken support of Bush, the Iraq war and the agenda of the Republican Right generally.
Guess the apologist role didn’t work as well for Romney as it did for Senator John Thune, who is getting credit for keeping Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota off the cut list. Thune, you may recall, defeated Tom Daschle last year.
In a perverse way, I get savage pleasure from the fact that BRAC ignored the influence-peddling of Kennedy and Kerry. Their failure of political clout has to be particularly galling, since both their families, as we all know, own substantial Cape Cod and Islands properties (albeit distant by eons from the lower middle class housing both on and immediately surrounding the Base).
Quite honestly, I’ve been confused by exactly what the implications are for closing Otis, which is only one of the military units stationed at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR).
The MMR covers 34 square miles of upper Cape Cod, approximately 22,000 acres and borders the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich.
Besides Otis, MMR houses US Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, including the early warning radar site (PAVE PAWS) and the U.S. Coast Guard Communication Station (COMSTA) Boston. In addition, MMR includes Army National Guard Camp Edwards and a Veteran