Pentagon to close Cape Cod's Otis air base

By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press Writer | May 13, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod is among the
military facilities slated for closure under a plan to be released
Friday by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, according to Congressional
sources familiar with the list.

Hanscom Air Force Base, northwest of Boston, stands to gain personnel
under the proposal, and the Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick will
remain open, according to the list.

An Army reserve facility at the Westover Joint Air Reserve Base in
Chicopee is also targeted for closure, but Westover itself will remain
open and will gain personnel.

Otis is located on the Upper Cape, at the southern end of the 22,000
acre Massachusetts Military Reservation. The MMR also includes the
Superfund site, Camp Edwards, which was used from 1911 to 1997 for
target practice, and by defense contractors testing and disposing of
munitions.

There are also Coast Guard and Army National Guard facilities there, and
other local emergency responders in the region use the area for training.

Gov. Mitt Romney and members of Congress have urged federal officials to
establish a homeland security training center at Otis.

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