WASHINGTON (AFNS) –
Air Force officials announced June 27 that Fort Bliss, Texas, was chosen as the preferred alternative for the Security Forces Ground Combat Training Center while Camp Guernsey, Wyo. is a reasonable alternative.
If selected as the final basing choice, Fort Bliss will host a training center, offering training courses for approximately 8,500 students per year.
The Headquarters Air Force Security Forces Center conducted a 2010 study to determine a more efficient method of training security forces. The study concluded consolidation of existing training locations would improve quality of training, increase economies of scale and further improve consistency.
Consolidating Security Forces Regional Training Centers will allow Security Forces to be more responsive to combatant commands and increase security forces training to adapt quickly to emerging enemy tactics, techniques and procedures.
With the consolidation, regional training locations at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.; Fort Wolters, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will close. At this time, the Air Force expects the ground combat readiness training at those locations to transfer to Fort Bliss no later than October 2014.
Overseas regional training center locations will remain in place and not be considered for consolidation in this strategic-basing action. Additionally, Camp Guernsey, Wyo., one of the existing regional training centers which specializes in Security Forces Nuclear Training, will continue to be the center for Nuclear Training Excellence.
Site survey teams evaluated the candidate bases for feasibility, timing, cost and planning purposes to meet initial operational capability requirements. The Secretary of the Air Force and chief of staff of the Air Force carefully considered the site survey results and other military judgment factors in choosing Fort Bliss as the preferred alternative.
"The selection of Fort Bliss as the preferred alternative is the result of a deliberate, enterprise-wide assessment," said Timothy Bridges, deputy assistant secretary for installations. "This consolidation will ensure standardized career field training of varying capabilities operated under centralized control and execution."
The final basing decision will be made after the completion of the Environmental Impact Analysis Process (EIAP), currently scheduled for this summer.