New base commander arrives at a crucial time for Air Force

As the White House and Congress work to slash $1.3 trillion from the federal budget deficit, defense spending is now in the spotlight. That should worry residents of the Mahoning Valley who have long enjoyed the benefits from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Township.

The station, which is home to the 910th Airlift Wing and Marine and Navy units, boasts 2,400 reservists, civilians and contractors in full-time or part-time positions, and pumps $100 million into the region’s economy. Several years ago, the Defense Department committed $34.5 million for a construction project, thereby indicating its commitment to the future of the base.

The Youngstown Air Reserve Station is the second largest military installation in the state of Ohio.

All that should give the new wing commander, Col. Reinhard Schmidt, a great feeling as he succeeds Col. Fritz Linsenmeyer, who had been in charge since April 11, 2010. Unfortunately, there’s word out of Washington about the Air Force’s plan to cut 9,000 jobs now, and more in the future. Indeed, the cuts are hitting close to home. While the Air Force did not spell out the full range of its planned job reductions, it announced a portion would come from the reorganization of the command that is its largest employer of civilians — the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.

The Associated Press reports that the command’s restructuring is to be done by October 2012.

The Air Force said the Materiel Command will not be the only major command affected by the cutbacks, but it mentioned no others, the AP reported. “It said workers ‘Air Force-wide’ will be informed of changes in the next several days.”

The announced moves will cut 9,000 civilian positions in management, staff and support at several bases. The Air Force has also said it plans to add 5,900 positions in other, higher-priority areas like weapons buying, nuclear weapons management and the expanding field of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It offered no details on that expansion.

Col. Schmidt, who comes to the Valley from Robins AFB, where he was director of Installations and Mission Support, is a master navigator with 4,147 flight hours in a variety of aircraft. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 2004. He has served as commander of the 934th Operations Group, 934th Airlift Wing, Minneapolis-St. Paul IAP/ARS, and has had other assignments.

High praise

The 910th Airlift Wing in Vienna Township has received high praise from every outgoing commander, not only because of the quality of the staff and facilities, but also because the Mahoning Valley has been an unabashed supporter of the facility.

In 2005, when the federal government was closing military installations, including Air Force bases, the Valley rallied with a grass-roots campaign called SOAR (Save Our Airbase Reservists) and local, state and federal officeholders, led by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, made the case for keeping the base off the closing list.

But the commitment by the base commander at the time, Col. Timothy J. Thomson, to keeping the facility open had a major impact on the decision-makers.

We are confident that once the new commander, Col. Schmidt, has had a chance to get to know on-base personnel, evaluate the facility’s mission and the efficiency with which it is being carried out, and to meet with community and political leaders, he will share the opinion of his predecessors that the facility is essential to the Air Force’s overall structure.