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View Full Version : Military Base Closings! Ohhhhh Booooyyyyyy!!



Dev Emch
05-13-2005, 12:10 PM
The pentagon has just released its initial list of base closings for the US. This list is larger than the others and it goes into a policy roundabout at this point. It will take some time for all this to clear.

What does this have to do with woodworking? Well, most of these bases have lots of nice industrial machines which will be going up for auction. A good portion will not be siting outside rusting.

So fire up your credit cards and start monitoring the various government auction houses. Some great woodworking machines are on the way!

Dan Racette
05-13-2005, 12:43 PM
do you have URL's for these auctions?

Scott Donley
05-13-2005, 1:23 PM
With the 1000's of people that are going to be out of work I am not sure that it is somethig to be happy about. Cheap tools are allways good, loss of good paying jobs are not. Just my thoughts. Scott
The pentagon has just released its initial list of base closings for the US. This list is larger than the others and it goes into a policy roundabout at this point. It will take some time for all this to clear.

What does this have to do with woodworking? Well, most of these bases have lots of nice industrial machines which will be going up for auction. A good portion will not be siting outside rusting.

So fire up your credit cards and start monitoring the various government auction houses. Some great woodworking machines are on the way!

Dan Racette
05-13-2005, 1:42 PM
This is a sad reality, indeed. I was more looking for the links in a manner of general information. I am well aware of this reality as the list indicates a new stress factor on many individuals that I know.

d

Kirk (KC) Constable
05-13-2005, 1:44 PM
The folks that aren't retirement ready will have plenty of time to find another job. They don't just close 'em down in 60 days. And if it's like it used to be, they'll move to the top of the priority list for government openings elsewhere. A more pressing concern might be the effect on the 'local' economy surrounding the bases...in some cases the military IS the local economy.

KC

Scott Donley
05-13-2005, 2:13 PM
It is the grocery clerks to the car salesman that will be losing jobs, those who bought homes even if still employed that won't be able to sell.
The folks that aren't retirement ready will have plenty of time to find another job. They don't just close 'em down in 60 days. And if it's like it used to be, they'll move to the top of the priority list for government openings elsewhere. A more pressing concern might be the effect on the 'local' economy surrounding the bases...in some cases the military IS the local economy.

KC

Maurice Ungaro
05-13-2005, 3:12 PM
The folks that aren't retirement ready will have plenty of time to find another job. They don't just close 'em down in 60 days. And if it's like it used to be, they'll move to the top of the priority list for government openings elsewhere. A more pressing concern might be the effect on the 'local' economy surrounding the bases...in some cases the military IS the local economy.

KC
RIGHT! I really feel sorry for the folks of New London - totally shut down. That hurts. I wouldn't crow about tool deals.

David Fried
05-13-2005, 3:31 PM
RIGHT! I really feel sorry for the folks of New London - totally shut down. That hurts. I wouldn't crow about tool deals.

I agree that New London/Groton didn't need this but the when I lived there and worked on the sub base it wasn't the employer EB or NUSC was. Of course EB isn't what it was and NUSC is gone. Now the real employers are the casinos. Folks I went to school with who used to be engineers at EB are already dealing cards. Strange how these things work.

Carl Eyman
05-13-2005, 4:47 PM
It is disturbing to the economy and the wrenching stress introduced in the lives of those affected is sad indeed, but continuing an unecessary government istallation for no other reason than to save the jobs is much worse. We have too much make work in the public sector as is. This is a little on the "nostalgia sad" side for me. My mother served in the US Navy as a Yeomanette at the New London base during WWI. Not a lot of people today realize that woman served as enlisted personnel in the Navy that long ago.

Rich Konopka
05-13-2005, 5:45 PM
It is not good news folks. The sub base was a major major major economic engine. I have friends at Electric Boat and they are real worried. The sub base closing will be 8500 private and goverment jobs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/base_list051305.pdf) and then there is EB and all of the suppliers and the countless mom and pop resturants and shops.

Of all the job cuts, 8586 are from little Connecticut.


It has been a real bad year in Connecticut this year. First they canned the Comanche Helicopter, then Sikorsky lost the Presidential Helicopter to a FOREIGN contractor and now this.


I also heard they are closing Otis on the Cape and the Portsmouth Navy yard.

The heck with the surplus goverment machines. The poor folks will be selling all of their woodworking equipment to feed thier families. Just horrible.

Dale Rodabaugh
05-13-2005, 6:01 PM
Just my 2 cents worth.We can kick this thing around and get everyones opinion on it,and sooner or later it is going to turn into a political argument.When its all over we will not have solved anything at all.

Tim Marks
05-13-2005, 6:42 PM
Tell me about it. I moved here to Groton a year ago, figured that I had a good chance of being able to finish out my military career here, bought a (very) expensive house.

If the base closes, then the military will push me somewhere else, and I will take a bath on the selling price of the home (I could see losing $50k or more). Trust me, since I was living in Charleston, SC when the Naval Base closed there, and housing prices crashed by about 40% or more as thousands of people were forced to unload their hosues and move.

Kelly C. Hanna
05-13-2005, 7:10 PM
I agree with Rich's post entirely. Also think of those having to sell their homes in what will be a very depressed market. I can't get happy about any part of that.

Doug Shepard
05-13-2005, 7:53 PM
Well no tool deals coming to my area. Haven't checked all the details, but per the news blurbs the local base (Selfridge Air NG) not only isn't closing but is gaining more people and jobs due to absorbing duties/roles/equipment from bases that are closing.

JayStPeter
05-13-2005, 8:39 PM
Well no tool deals coming to my area. Haven't checked all the details, but per the news blurbs the local base (Selfridge Air NG) not only isn't closing but is gaining more people and jobs due to absorbing duties/roles/equipment from bases that are closing.

Same here at Pax River.
It's a reshuffling, some will lose and some will gain. Apparently some will gain some WWing equipment too.

Jay