Housing, hospital improvements among
items covered in military construction bill
By Sandra Jontz, Washington
bureau
ARLINGTON, Va. — From new barracks to upgraded medical facilities, the fiscal 2002
military construction bill puts funding for some real and visible improvements in quality
of life for servicemembers in their homes and workplaces, officials said.
Congress has given the military $10.5 billion in fiscal 2002 for much-needed
construction, including renovations for housing projects and improving piers, hangars and
office space.
President Bush signed into law a bill giving the military $529 million more than he had
originally sought, and $1.56 billion more than Congress appropriated last year.
"The requested projects are critical to supporting military readiness and the
quality of life for our soldiers," Bush wrote after he signed the bill into law Nov.
5.
"My administration showed its commitment to improving the quality of housing
available to our military personnel and their families by including an additional $400
million in the FY 2002 budget."
The bill had to be hammered out in Congress before Bush could sign it.
"This bill reflects our commitment to our troops and their families by fully
funding military construction priorities for the next fiscal year," Rep. David
Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the military construction appropriations subcommittee of the
House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that accompanied the bill.
"This bipartisan bill will help provide better infrastructure and housing for our
troops and their families in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and will support our ongoing
military operations against terrorism," he said.
Highlights of the bill, H.R.2904, include:
- $1.2 billion for new barracks across the services
- $953 million for National Guard and Reserve components
- $199 million for hospital and medical facilities
- $163 million for the chemical Demilitarization program
- $163 million for NATO Security Investment Program
- $44 million for child development centers
About 39 percent of the construction bill, or about $4.1 billion, is earmarked for
construction and renovations to family housing projects.
The process for determining what gets funded and when works similarly across the
services.
In the Navy, for example, a team of military experts evaluate and rank the need for
projects and recommend a list to the Chief of Naval Operations.
This year, Adm. Vern Clark has placed an emphasis on the fleet’s warfighting
capabilities, in which construction plays a huge role, Cmdr. Bob McLean said. To be
effective in battle, sailors must have the right equipment and work in decent facilities,
he said.
The Pentagon will use about 6 percent of the bill, or $633 million, to pay for
environmental cleanup and restoration projects that followed the last round of base
closures in 1995.
The money given to localities to clean up sites must dovetail with local government
plans to refurbish the land. For example, the military would pay less to clean up a site
planned for a parking lot than it would for land earmarked for future housing, explained
an appropriations expert who asked to not be identified.
Congress appropriated money in the bill for some projects for which the administration
hadn’t asked.
For example, Congress wants to see the readiness center at Barrigada in Guam funded for
the Army National Guard, a base supply warehouse at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and
repairs to the Masirah Island airfield in Oman for the Air Force.
The bill is broken down further by the individual services and the Department of
Defense as a whole.
The Army will receive nearly $1.78 billion for military construction projects, and
another $1.4 billion for family housing construction and maintenance projects.
Some of the big-ticket Army projects overseas include barracks complexes in Bamberg,
Germany, and Camp Hovey, Korea, and a physical fitness-training center in Wiesbaden,
Germany.
The Army will be building 54 family housing units at Camp Humphreys, Korea, in addition
to others in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas and Texas.
The Navy will get nearly $1.15 billion for military construction funding and $1.2
billion for family housing construction and maintenance.
Some of the Navy construction projects include barracks at Larissa Naval Support
Activity in Greece and waterfront utilities upgrade at Guam Naval Support Activity. The
Navy places barracks construction in the military facility category instead of family
housing.
Ten naval family housing units will be built at Sigonella, Sicily, in addition to some
in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Mississippi and Virginia.
The Marine Corps receives its funding from the Department of the Navy. In FY02, the
Corps’ portion is roughly $339 million for military construction projects.
"That’s a pretty significant jump over last year," said Andy Recachinas,
head of military construction programming for the Marine Corps. "The program amount
almost doubled, and that’s because of the additional dollars provided to the services
from the administration."
None of the Corps’ military construction dollars are spent overseas. The
bachelors’ quarters will be done at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Camp Pendleton, Calif.;
Quantico, Va., and Twenty Nine Palms, Calif.
The Air Force will receive nearly $1.2 billion for facility construction and
maintenance projects and $1.4 billion for family housing construction and maintenance.
Construction projects include the first phase for a combat communications squadron
complex and new dormitory at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and an addition to the fitness
center at Kunsan Air Base in Korea.
Sixty-four Air Force housing units will be built at Lajes Field in Portugal and other
housing units are planned for Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington, D.C.,
Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, South Dakota and Virginia.
Of the $863 million appropriated for Defense Departmentwide projects, the Pentagon will
spend $28 million to build an addition to and renovate the health clinic at the hospital
in Heidelberg, Germany, another nearly $11 million to replace the composite medical
facility at Thule Air Base in Greenland and $20 million to replace the hydrant fuel system
at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
Included in the military construction bill is $162.6 million to be paid to NATO’s
Security Investment Program for the United States’ contribution to build military
facilities and headquarters worldwide.
Funding to rebuild the damage done to the Pentagon will come from an emergency
supplemental appropriation measure, and not the military construction bill.
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