Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
January 5, 2007
Pg. 1
The 913th Airlift Wing is shutting down. The fate of a Navy unit is still unclear.
By Tom Infield, Inquirer Staff Writer
The part-time airmen of the 913th Airlift Wing have ferried U.S. military personnel and supplies across much of the world. In recent years, the Willow Grove unit has supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and aided humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Now, the Air Force Reserve Command says it intends to shut down the unit, take away the remainder of its aging, propeller-driven C-130 aircraft, and close its facilities at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Montgomery County.
The end date, announced yesterday, is Oct. 1.
Col. Reinhard L. Schmidt, the wing commander, said deactivation probably became inevitable in 2005 when Congress approved a Defense Department plan to phase out the larger naval air facility at Willow Grove by 2011. The Navy provides the runway the Air Force uses.
Schmidt said for months he had been telling the more than 200 full-time employees and 1,000 part-time reservists to "prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
The 913th is the first major unit at Willow Grove to announce a shut-down date.
Kate Philips, Gov. Rendell's spokeswoman, said yesterday: "This decision is in direct contradiction to our overall objective, which is to keep jobs at Willow Grove... . But, unfortunately, it's out of our hands."
A major dispute continues over the future of the 111th Fighter Wing, a Pennsylvania Air National Guard unit at the base.
Rendell is pressing a lawsuit arguing that the federal government has no authority to take away the unit's A-10 attack planes, as was announced in 2005.
The 913th was not targeted for closing when the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closing Commission recommended shutting down the larger Willow Grove facility.
The commission approved recommendations transferring Navy and Marine Corps Reserve units at Willow Grove, and voted to strip the 111th of its planes, but not to disband it.
Master Sgt. John Skillman, 41, a full-time reservist with the 913th, said he wasn't surprised when the shoe dropped.
"You could see it coming," he said. "We were just waiting for the final word."
Skillman said that to continue as a reservist he likely would have to move from his home in Southampton, Bucks County.
"If I have to, I will," he said. "I don't want to."
The air wing plans to hold job fairs for employees today and tomorrow at the base.
The largely full-time civilian employees will meet with Philadelphia-area employers and representatives of other government agencies. A small number of reservists also work full time.
Part-time reservists, who train one weekend a month, will try to find spots with other units.
Marie Battle, 56, a retired master sergeant who works as a civilian employee, said she might just retire.
By late afternoon yesterday she already was talking of the 913th in the past tense while at her desk. "It was a good place to work," said Battle, who lives in Philadelphia's Mount Airy section. "I loved the people I was working with."
The Air Force owns 263 acres next to about 1,000 acres the Navy owns.
Brig. Gen. Richard Severson, an Air Force Reserve Command official, said the decision to close the air wing was based only partly on the eventual closing of Willow Grove. He said the Air Force was looking for ways to cut spending and targeted the 913th because it operates the oldest planes - dating from the 1960s - in the Air Force Reserve fleet.
In recent years, the Air Force has been slowly stripping the wing of its aircraft. A decade ago, the unit had 12. Today, it has two. In recent years the 913th has borrowed aircraft from other reserve units for its missions.
Severson flew to Willow Grove on Wednesday to deliver the official word that the wing would close. Yesterday the official closing date was announced.
Much of the work the 913th does will be transferred to Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, he said. Many of the Willow Grove employees may be offered positions there.
Master Sgt. David Stroebel, 43, of Ocean Township, N.J., said most wing members had expected the news of the shutdown.
"They're taking it in stride," he said.
January 5, 2007
Pg. 1
The 913th Airlift Wing is shutting down. The fate of a Navy unit is still unclear.
By Tom Infield, Inquirer Staff Writer
The part-time airmen of the 913th Airlift Wing have ferried U.S. military personnel and supplies across much of the world. In recent years, the Willow Grove unit has supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and aided humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Now, the Air Force Reserve Command says it intends to shut down the unit, take away the remainder of its aging, propeller-driven C-130 aircraft, and close its facilities at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Montgomery County.
The end date, announced yesterday, is Oct. 1.
Col. Reinhard L. Schmidt, the wing commander, said deactivation probably became inevitable in 2005 when Congress approved a Defense Department plan to phase out the larger naval air facility at Willow Grove by 2011. The Navy provides the runway the Air Force uses.
Schmidt said for months he had been telling the more than 200 full-time employees and 1,000 part-time reservists to "prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
The 913th is the first major unit at Willow Grove to announce a shut-down date.
Kate Philips, Gov. Rendell's spokeswoman, said yesterday: "This decision is in direct contradiction to our overall objective, which is to keep jobs at Willow Grove... . But, unfortunately, it's out of our hands."
A major dispute continues over the future of the 111th Fighter Wing, a Pennsylvania Air National Guard unit at the base.
Rendell is pressing a lawsuit arguing that the federal government has no authority to take away the unit's A-10 attack planes, as was announced in 2005.
The 913th was not targeted for closing when the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closing Commission recommended shutting down the larger Willow Grove facility.
The commission approved recommendations transferring Navy and Marine Corps Reserve units at Willow Grove, and voted to strip the 111th of its planes, but not to disband it.
Master Sgt. John Skillman, 41, a full-time reservist with the 913th, said he wasn't surprised when the shoe dropped.
"You could see it coming," he said. "We were just waiting for the final word."
Skillman said that to continue as a reservist he likely would have to move from his home in Southampton, Bucks County.
"If I have to, I will," he said. "I don't want to."
The air wing plans to hold job fairs for employees today and tomorrow at the base.
The largely full-time civilian employees will meet with Philadelphia-area employers and representatives of other government agencies. A small number of reservists also work full time.
Part-time reservists, who train one weekend a month, will try to find spots with other units.
Marie Battle, 56, a retired master sergeant who works as a civilian employee, said she might just retire.
By late afternoon yesterday she already was talking of the 913th in the past tense while at her desk. "It was a good place to work," said Battle, who lives in Philadelphia's Mount Airy section. "I loved the people I was working with."
The Air Force owns 263 acres next to about 1,000 acres the Navy owns.
Brig. Gen. Richard Severson, an Air Force Reserve Command official, said the decision to close the air wing was based only partly on the eventual closing of Willow Grove. He said the Air Force was looking for ways to cut spending and targeted the 913th because it operates the oldest planes - dating from the 1960s - in the Air Force Reserve fleet.
In recent years, the Air Force has been slowly stripping the wing of its aircraft. A decade ago, the unit had 12. Today, it has two. In recent years the 913th has borrowed aircraft from other reserve units for its missions.
Severson flew to Willow Grove on Wednesday to deliver the official word that the wing would close. Yesterday the official closing date was announced.
Much of the work the 913th does will be transferred to Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, he said. Many of the Willow Grove employees may be offered positions there.
Master Sgt. David Stroebel, 43, of Ocean Township, N.J., said most wing members had expected the news of the shutdown.
"They're taking it in stride," he said.