FT BRAGG HAS TREMENDOUS GROWTH - 7TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP NEEDS TO LEAVE FT BRAGG TO MAKE ROOM

FOLKS, if you think we are growing at the seams, Fort Bragg is busting at the seams. Rumor was, the soldiers moving to Eglin might have problems selling their homes. Actually, the truth of the matter is, the incoming folks to Fort Bragg needs homes badly and would probably pack and deliver their fellow Army folks household goods to get them out of town to make room for them. The log jam is us here in Northwest Florida, and the questions is, can we get quality homes built fast enough with the problem of lending to developers and builders. Bragg feeling stress of growth, returning troops By Henry CuninghamMilitary editor PINEHURST - Fort Bragg in recent months has been feeling the stress of growth combined with soldiers returning home from overseas, the garrison commander said Thursday. The redeployment has been "a big wakeup call," Col. Steve Sicinski said. Large-scale troop deployments in recent years tended to obscure the impact of growth, he said. Sicinski, who is in charge of the day-to-day operation of the Army post that stretches 35 miles east to west across the Sandhills, spoke to the Moore County Chamber of Commerce at the National Golf Club. The stress has shown up everywhere from traffic snarls on the roads to more customers in the post exchange to longer lines to get military identification cards. "Everybody knows the pharmacy lines are unsatisfactory," Sicinski said. Fort Bragg's population is about 56,000 military personnel, including soldiers and airmen, since Pope Air Force Base became Fort Bragg's Pope Field in March, he said.Fort Bragg has an estimated economic impact on the surrounding civilian community of $9.5 billion annually or more than $26 million daily, he said. A baby boom "is just beginning" at Fort Bragg's Womack Army Medical Center in the wake of large-scale troop redeployments over the past year, he said. An average of about nine babies are born every day at the military hospital, he said. Fort Bragg and other military installations have experienced increases in births nine months after massive redeployments since troops came home from the first Persian Gulf War in the spring of 1991. The number of generals at Fort Bragg is growing from 19 to 39, he said. Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve Command are moving to Fort Bragg this summer from Atlanta because of mandates of the 2005 base realignment law. "This is no boutique installation," Sicinski said. He added Fort Bragg is a "working installation" whose main purpose is training troops for combat. The Joint Special Operations Command, which includes members from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, is "growing in importance," he said. The Air Force plans to add a brigadier general at Pope Field, he said. The 7th Special Forces Group, which is leaving Fort Bragg, has sent an advance party to its new home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and large numbers will depart in the next two months, he said. The group has about 2,000 soldiers. Its move also is part of base realignment. Military editor Henry Cuningham can be reached at cuninghamh@fayobserver.com or 486-3585