THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410110319
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL HOLLANDSWORTH, ASSOCIATION OF NAVAL AVIATION
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
As you turn off Oceana Boulevard and drive to the main gate at Oceana Naval Air Station, you are struck by the activity around you. The commissary, exchange, and clinic parking lots are packed. The sound and the sight of A-6s and F-14s punctuate the reason for all these facilities.
Drive through the main gate, turn left by the display of aircraft that have populated Oceana, and you see the Officers Club. Now, and only now, you realize that Oceana is an endangered species: There are tombstones placed in a funeral plot reserved for ``dead'' squadrons.
Why is the Navy's premier East Coast air station fighting for its life when only two years ago, after Desert Storm, Oceana was jammed with the Navy's finest, first-line aircraft?
The overall reason is the end of the Cold War.
Thirteen squadrons have stood down in those two years - 4,500 sailors and officers, with a corresponding loss of 1,350 civilian jobs. If Oceana goes away, the area would lose about 14,300 jobs.
The Defense Base Closing and Realignment Commission got Tidewater's attention in 1993 by closing Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot and other facilities in the area, but its biggest eye-opener was the push by some commissioners to add Oceana to the list instead of another East Coast air station, Cecil Field in Florida.
BRAC '95 has been labeled ``The Mother of All BRACS.'' It is expected that 50 percent of the remaining military bases will be on the list.
One point that counted against Oceana was the encroachment by the city of Virginia Beach. Under the leadership of Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, and action by the city's School Board, the encroachment issue is being met head on. The truth is that no major construction has occurred near Oceana since Lynnhaven Mall.
Another misconception is that the water Oceana uses aggravates the city's water supply problem. This is not true. Oceana's water comes directly from Norfolk and doesn't count against Virginia Beach's allotment of Norfolk water.
However, one major obstacle does exist and can only be fixed by the Navy. It is the lack of aircraft at Oceana. Unless a large number of aircraft squadrons are moved in, there is no chance BRAC '95 will allow a grossly underutilized Oceana to remain open.
The real solution to keeping Oceana open for the forseeable future is to move the F/A-18 Hornets from Cecil Field.
Added to the West Coast F-14s that may move to Oceana, and Cecil's S-3 Vikings, the F/A-18s would make Oceana's squadron count 27.
Why Oceana over Cherry Point, the Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina scheduled to get the F/A-18s?
Cherry Point does not have a suitable outlying field for carrier landing practice and will have to build nine additional aircraft hangars, new taxiways, ramps and a variety of maintenance and support buildings.
Environmentally, Cherry Point has ``significant'' wetlands in and around the area.
Last, but far from least, is the concern for the quality of life for may Navy personnel and families being transferred to a small community.
The BRAC process is doing a necessary job by closing bases no longer needed. However, money spent to duplicate a base already in existence is money wasted. Economically and practically, from a local and a national point of view, it is essential that Oceana remain open. MEMO: Hollandsworth, a retired Navy captain, is president of the Hampton
Roads Chapter of the Association of Naval Aviation. by CNB