Eglin's futures is bright. The front page headline of today's paper. A fact, which I have been letting my reader's know, for quite some time. If you haven't been following the specifics, go back to my previous Blog entries of the past and they are outlined. It does still amaze me, I am still hearing from bankers and others say, "I don't know if the we will get all this growth being talked about, the government might change its mind". WELL WAKE UP!!! It is here and ahead of schedule. We have been lucky with no hurricanes, which has allowed the Prime Contractor to get ahead of schedule on the Army Base. Again, I will underscore it, "MILITARY BUDGET CUTS MAKE EGLIN ATTRACTIVE". Why??? Future warfare is, RAPID DEPLOYMENT and SMART AND ADVANCE WEAPONS. Guess what. EGLIN IS IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL. In conclusion, INVESTORS AND BANKERS, GET OUT OF YOUR OFFICE'S AND SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THIS AREA. NOT WHAT YOU READ FROM THE NATIONAL NEWS PAPERS. Great success will be when Bankers, Investors, Developers, and Builders come together to meet this unprecident challenge which is upon us NOW!!!!
By MONA MOORE
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4443 mmoore@nwfdailynews.com
EGLIN AFB — In a wartime era of budget cuts and closures, Eglin remains one of the busiest bases in the Department of Defense. The objective for the next decade is to keep it that way. With tenants that include the 46th Test Wing, the Air Force Special Operations Command and the country’s only special operations reserve unit, Eglin Air Force Base has played a vital role in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. “I think that they’re right in the middle of what the DOD’s looking for,” Okaloosa County Commissioner Bill Roberts said. Roberts is the commission’s liaison for the joint Land Use Study, BRAC, Defense Support Initiative and Economic Development Council. “Look at Hurlburt and Special Operations out of there, and that’s the way we’re fighting wars today,” Roberts said.
The BRAC impact:
The outcome of the 2006 Base Realignment and Closure favored Eglin. The base will lead the way in fifth-generation aircraft and joint integration of the forces with the BRAC additions.
The 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) will be Eglin’s second Army tenant. The Marines, Navy and Air Force also are working together in the Joint Strike Fighter Training School. “I’m excited about the future of Eglin Air Force Base,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. “Not only was Eglin chosen as the site for the Department of Defense’s new joint training center for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, they also just received a Special Operations forces unit from Fort Bragg. The addition of these new missions will have a lasting and positive impact on the local community.” The immediate impact is a boost in home sales and more students in local classrooms. By 2020, an additional 10,690 people will call Santa Rosa, Walton or Okaloosa County home as a result of BRAC, according to a 2007 study by the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development at the University of Wet Florida. Jim Breitenfeld, a member of the Economic Development Council’s Defense Support Initiative, said Army families have been choosing to settle farther away from the 7th Special Forces’ cantonment west of Duke Field. Conversations with local realtors and developers have found an unexpected trend among those homebuyers. “Some of the initial thoughts were that … when they came, all of them were just going to plop down and settle into Crestview,” Breitenfeld said. “They ’re gonna spread out across the region. We’ve gotten reports that home sales to members of the 7th are really being spread … all the way from Navarre into Walton County.” The impact will be greater than a few new neighbors. The new residents will introduce a new dynamic to the area. Breitenfeld gave health care as an example. Because of the constant deployments and dangerous missions of the Special Forces, local hospitals will have to provide a different level of service to injured soldiers. “The hospitals and medical centers are working very closely with Eglin and that’ll be a benefit to the community, in a sense. It will probably raise the level of traumatic injury health care in the area,” Breitenfeld said. Breitenfeld is optimistic about the future, but recognizes some areas that may have a greater impact on the area than the population boom expected in the next decade. His three greatest concerns are the shrinking DoD budget, limited air space and the possibility of drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
A shrinking budget:
Rick Harper, director of the Haas center, said there are legitimate worries about the defense budget. “I think that all parts of the federal budget are going to be under pressure in the next several years because the budget deficit has to be reduced, which means that national defense expenditures are going to be under pressure,” Harper said. Jeff Fanto, growth project coordinator for Okaloosa County, said recent studies have shown that the county’s dependence on the military has been too great. He said he has seen figures as high as 73 percent of the workforce being tied to military. Recent studies have said Northwest Florida must seek ways to diversify its economy. How that can be done remains to be seen. “It doesn’t appear as though there’s anything on the immediate horizon. But I think that you certainly have to frame all of your thinking on what that budget might do over the next several years,” Breitenfeld said. “I think if the Air Force, in particular, lowered its level of support for new weapon development, then that could have an effect on Eglin.”
Close ties:
Okaloosa County’s success is closely tied to the success of Eglin. “Speaking as an economist, Eglin is the most important economic driver in Northwest Florida. The procurement spending that flows through the base every year is very large, relative to other parts of the economy,” Harper said. Eglin has been one of the top employers in the area since the 1930s. In 2005, the DoD spent more than $2.24 billion in Okaloosa County. The largest portion was from contracted services such as research and development, construction and maintenance. Another $627 million was spent on salaries and wages, according to the 2007 Haas study. About 27 percent of the state’s federal military and civilian personnel live in Okaloosa County, the Haas study said. Nearly 21,000 people (14 percent of the county’s workforce) works for the DoD. Breitenfeld said the number of people was not the most important factor. “You can have a lot of numbers at a military base, numbers of people and numbers of missions, but the economic impact in the community really is dependant upon the type of mission it is,” he said. “The high-tech research technical labor force that we have at Eglin really is what fuels the economic impact. It would be a different look if it were simply a training base.” The base’s technical fields generate the greatest income for the area, and Breitenfeld stressed the importance of fostering and supporting those fields. When new missions are proposed for Eglin, they cannot be at the expense of the high-paying research and development, acquisitions, testing and evaluation positions. The impact creeps into all facets of the community. The area’s quality of life is affected. Brietenheld noted education. “There are a number of reasons why the school systems in Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton County traditionally are in the top three or four or five in the state. And a lot of that is the military,” Breitenfeld said. “You’ve got parents who come in with high expectations (and) you’ve got parents that are very involved in the school system that help set standards very high.”
Working together
Crowded air space has become an issue in the last decade as the area’s commercial, civilian and military aircraft have increased. One of the deciding factors in the number of F-35s Eglin will bed down was air space. “I think there’s a good handle on that. Eglin has led an initiative over the last couple of years to try to sort through that, and we expect to see some of the recommendations as early as December,” Breitenfeld said. The third area that would have an impact on the future is the training range over the gulf. Breitenfeld called it a national asset.
The oil spill disrupted Eglin’s testing and evaluation. The base could not test munitions with boats skimming oil. But some good may have come of the spill: It will influence the likelihood of new leases and opening up new areas for drilling. Breitenfeld said drilling and the military are not necessarily incompatible. As long as the drilling takes into account the military’s needs, both parties can work around restrictions. “The bottom line is we think the future of Eglin is very strong,” Breitenfeld said. “There are a few areas that I think people need to have some concern about.”
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