WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley said that the Army’s response to an August letter urging that the Des Moines Army Recruiting Battalion be kept active is encouraging in that it makes clear the proposal to close the doors isn’t final. Army officials reviewing the proposal to close the battalion said that arguments to the contrary have merit.
“We gave the Army clear facts showing that the U.S. Army Recruiting Command erred in its proposal. It’s very good to hear that the misguided proposal is being carefully reviewed and that the Army is serious about considering our request,” Grassley said. “Consolidating the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion with Minneapolis would be a costly mistake.”
In August, Grassley sent a letter signed by every member of Iowa ’s congressional delegation to the Pentagon asking for reconsideration of the decision to deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion and consolidate it with the Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion. The letter revealed that a proposal made by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command was against staff recommendations.
Grassley, Sen. Harkin, and Reps. Latham, Boswell, King, Braley and Loebsack said that Des Moines has a closer average distance to other metropolitan areas in the region, is closer to supporting Military Entrance Processing Stations, and is closer to its supporting military installations. Greater Des Moines also has a lower cost of living than Minneapolis . And, the newly constructed facility is located on a military installation instead of leased space, resulting in a substantially lower annual operating cost for the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion.
Below is the Iowa congressional delegation’s August letter to the U.S. Department of the Army. Here is copy of the Department’s response.
August 3, 2007
The Honorable Pete Geren
Secretary of the Army
US Department of the Army
1600 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310?1600
Dear Secretary Geren:
We remain extremely concerned about a decision by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) to deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion and consolidate it with the Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion. We understand that the USAREC staff presented a strong recommendation to Major General Bostick to inactivate the Minneapolis Battalion, showing that on all factors where there was a significant difference between the two battalions, the evidence weighed in favor of inactivating the Minneapolis Battalion and consolidating to Des Moines .
Des Moines was shown to have a significantly closer average distance to the metropolitan areas in the region to be covered by the consolidated battalion, 134 miles versus 189 miles. Des Moines is significantly closer to supporting Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS), with a 100 mile average versus a 143 average for Minneapolis . Des Moines also has a 77 mile closer average to its supporting military installations. On the question of cost, Des Moines has a lower cost of living than Minneapolis and the newly constructed facility in Des Moines is located on a military installation instead of leased space resulting in a substantially lower annual operating cost for the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion, $24,000 versus $45,000. In addition, the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion just completed its move to a new, $1.7 million facility. That $1.7 million, plus the cost of the move and outfitting the new office space would effectively be wasted were the Des Moines Battalion to be deactivated.
We ask that you review the decision to deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion in contradiction of the staff recommendation and consider reversing this apparently ill-conceived decision. Thank you for your attention to our request.
Sincerely,
Sen. Chuck Grassley
Sen. Tom Harkin
Rep. Tom Latham
Rep. Leonard Boswell
Rep. Steve King
Rep. Dave Loebsack
Rep. Bruce Braley