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May 13, 2005
Minneapolis, Minn. — (AP) - A base closings list obtained Friday by The Associated Press shows 254 jobs to be relocated from military operations at Fort Snelling here.
Semonti Mustaphi, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Dayton, says the jobs will be transferred to Fort McCoy, Wis. It wasn't immediately clear where the jobs would come from. Fort Snelling is home to several units, including the 88th Regional Support Command, portions of the 13th Psychological Operations Battalion and the 847th Personnel Services Battalion, according to military Web sites.
A telephone call to a Fort Snelling spokesman wasn't immediately returned. Col. Denny Shields, a spokesman for the Minnesota National Guard, also did not return a call Friday.
The list also recommends closure of the Navy Reserve Center in Duluth. Nine people work full-time at the base. About 130 reservists drill there. Twenty-two reservists are currently on active duty in Kuwait, according to Erik Isaacson, the reserve center's commanding officer.
The possibility of a base closure "has been looming for several years now, so it's good to have the process starting to finalize," Isaacson said. "The process certainly isn't over, and we have until the end of the year to wait for a determination. This is just one part of the process, this isn't a final answer."
Isaacson, who has been stationed in Duluth just six weeks, said he hadn't been notified of the recommendation to close the reserve center. The reserve center had been slated to move from a decades-old building near the Duluth airport to a facility being built on the Air National Guard base on the airport grounds, Isaacson said.
The recommendations in the list may be changed by a federal base closing commission this fall, and then are subject to approval by Congress and President Bush.
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