WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that a staff meeting with officials from the Department of the Army revealed that new criteria were added after the Army staff had made its initial recommendation to keep the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion active.
Last summer, U.S. Army Recruiting Command staff had recommended that the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion remain in its current location, but the commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command changed their decision and instead recommended that the Army deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion and consolidate it with the Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion.
When the Iowa congressional delegation learned of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command’s change of heart, they asked the Secretary of the Army to override the lower Command’s proposal and demanded a briefing to explain the decision.
At this week’s staff briefing the U.S. Army Recruiting Command said that three criteria were added in determining whether to deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion. These criteria match the input from the 3rd Brigade and, as could be expected, favor Minneapolis . The counterbalancing points from the 5th Brigade that favored Des Moines appeared to have not been given the same level of importance. One of the new criteria was the proximity of the headquarters to professional sports teams, even though recruiters would still be in the area whether the headquarters was there or not.
“Even with the new criteria, it should be a no-brainer to keep the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion open,” Grassley said. “If professional sports teams are one of the main reasons to deactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion, somebody should have their head examined. Even with its proximity to Minnesota professional sports teams, the recruiting numbers of the Minneapolis Battalion have been consistently behind those of the Des Moines Battalion. This doesn’t add up for me, so I hope the Secretary of the Army will do the right thing.”
Here is a copy of the text of the letter to refute the latest arguments and reiterate the Iowa delegation’s support for the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion.
December 20, 2007
The Honorable Pete Geren
Secretary of the Army
US Department of the Army
1600 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310?1600
Dear Secretary Geren:
As members of the Iowa congressional delegation, we would like to follow up on a meeting with our staff on December 18, 2007, which included representatives from U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) and the Army Chief of Staff for Operations, G-3. This meeting provided some useful insights into the process that led to the recommendation by the commander of USAREC to close the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion, as opposed to the Minneapolis Battalion as was overwhelmingly suggested by the criteria used in the initial staff recommendation.
Of seven criteria used in formulating the initial staff recommendation to close the Minneapolis Battalion, five came out in favor of Des Moines and two showed no significant difference. Using a numerical weighting to account for the relative importance of the various criteria, this resulted in a total score of 7.5 to 0 in favor of inactivating the Minneapolis Battalion.
In the meeting, our staff members were told that three additional criteria were added to the staff-developed criteria based on input from commanders in the field. These criteria match the input from the 3rd Brigade and, as could be expected, favor Minneapolis . The counterbalancing points from the 5th Brigade that favored Des Moines were apparently not given the same level of importance. We would like to critically examine these additional criteria and offer our own points for consideration.
The first of the additional criteria favoring Minneapolis that was cited to our staff was the number of professional sports teams in the area, which was clarified as “centers of influence and community operations.” The input from the 3rd Brigade stated this point simply as “Minneapolis contains five professional sports franchises, which allows opportunities for partnership.” The extent to which professional sports teams are so important to recruiting that this should be a major factor in the decision seems highly dubious. Even assuming this is the case, given that the recruiting companies will not change, it is not clear how vital it is to have the battalion headquarters physically located near sports teams. Also, keeping in mind that the newly merged battalion will be responsible for both Minnesota and Iowa , it is important to consider “centers of influence and community operations” that are important for the entire battalion. Iowans have divided loyalties when it comes to professional sports and have different “centers of influence and community operations” from Minnesotans.
If in fact proximity to “centers of influence and community operations” really is important in locating the battalion headquarters, then the question remains whether it is more important to be closer to those that impact Iowans or those that impact Minnesotans. The fact is that the recruiting numbers for the Des Moines Battalion have consistently been better than those of the Minneapolis Battalion, even with its proximity to Minnesota professional sports teams. Whether this is due to the effectiveness and productivity of the workforce in the Des Moines Battalion or the fact that Iowans have a relatively high participation in the military, or both, it would seem that this should also be one of the key criteria used in determining the location of the new battalion headquarters.
The second criterion supposedly favoring Minneapolis is transportation options. It is true that Minneapolis is a hub airport for Northwest Airlines, but it is also true that Des MoinesInternationalAirport offers daily flights on major airlines to many destinations making all the locations USAREC staff need to fly to and from easily accessible. The inconvenience of having to change planes in some cases would appear to be a minor concern. Des Moines is located at the intersection of Interstates 80 and 35, and is at least as accessible by road as Minneapolis . Also, while the Minneapolis metro area is undoubtedly the largest single population center in the new area, Des Moines is arguably more strategically located between the various major population centers in the region.
The third criterion that was mentioned is the fact that the Minneapolis Battalion is already part of the 3rd Brigade structure. It was also pointed out that the Minneapolis Battalion has implemented a new kind of recruiting that will eventually be more universally adopted. We understand that this has been implemented in Minneapolis for less than a year with questionable results. Regardless, with any merger, transition difficulties are inevitable one way or the other. The question is whether it is more advisable to break up the battalion that is more productive and effective or the battalion that uses a particular recruiting method but is less productive and effective.
It is clear to us that the additional criteria used to influence the recommendation by USAREC to inactivate the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion is not convincing and would not seem to outweigh the fact that the Des Moines Battalion has been more effective in its recruiting mission, much less the weight of the other criteria that initially led the USAREC staff to recommend inactivating the Minneapolis Battalion. In particular, these flimsy additional criteria do not justify the additional cost of retaining the Minneapolis Battalion. According to the support agreement with the Iowa National Guard, the annual operating cost for the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion is $27, 392. In addition, the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion is located in a brand new $1.7 million facility on a military base. On the other hand, according General Service Administration and Department of Homeland Security documents, the Minneapolis Battalion’s annual cost for leased space and security, necessary because it is located in a federal building, is $309,180. That’s a difference of $281,788 annually. In other words, the Minneapolis Battalion costs 91% more to operate on an annual basis. This, combined with the wasted cost of the building specifically constructed for the Des Moines Recruiting Battalion that would be vacated, is clearly not a wise use of the taxpayers’ money.
We urge you to consider these factors as you make your final decision. Thank you for your attention to our concerns.
Sincerely,
Chuck Grassley
Tom Harkin
Tom Latham
Leonard Boswell
Steve King
Bruce Braley
Dave Loebsack