Bedford Minuteman

Editorial: No place like Bedford

Wednesday, May 7, 2003

Find a community anywhere in the United States with a military base in danger of being closed and you'll find heartfelt pleas, local pride and some pretty weighty arguments on why that base should stay right where it is. It's no different for Hanscom Air Force Base.

Despite any of the community's concerns with the Massachusetts Port Authority and commercial aviation at the base's civil terminal, the military component of Hanscom has always been tied closely with both jobs and life in the towns surrounding the base. They are part of our community, part of our schools and - to a great extent - part of our local economy.

These are not original arguments. The same theme was argued by Fort Devens, the Naval Air Station in South Weymouth and numerous other now-closed bases throughout the country. A point being driven home over and over again by spokespersons at a Build Hanscom Alliance meeting Friday, however, nails down the real reason for keeping Hanscom right where it is. It's not so much the jobs the base provides the community, it's the technology and manpower the community provides the base.

In today's modern military of smart bombs, precision warfare, remote -controlled spy planes and computer-guided weapons, it is the research and development from private corporations working hand in hand with the government that keeps the U.S. on the leading edge. This is an area Massachusetts knows well. The private sector businesses and experts in this area are an integral part of what Hanscom does.

Pick Hanscom up and move it somewhere else? It just doesn't make sense. The majority of the base closings in recent years are direct results of the shift from manpower to technology. Hanscom has no large troop buildup, no massive array of fighters and weapons - its role is research, technology and acquisitions. Given that fact, we have to wonder why Hanscom is even on the list of possibilities for realignment or closure. The Department of Defense won't find another place in the country to get more bang for its buck.

-N.B.

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