Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (GA-01) testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense to highlight the need to support the missions at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field during fiscal year 2016 budget discussions.
Before the Subcommittee, Carter brought attention to the Army’s planned manpower drawdowns and his serious concerns with the possible impacts on the effective troop levels and missions at Fort Stewart. “I’ve heard discussions about reducing the total number of Army Brigade Combat Teams nationwide and additional manpower cuts which could affect the 3rd Infantry Division by the reduction of one or even two BCTs,” Carter said. “Such reductions would be a severe blow to the ability of the 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field to provide their extraordinary capability to our national defense.”
Carter requested that the Army broaden its evaluation of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field with regard to Army Brigade Combat Teams to maintain full mission integrity and capabilities.
During his testimony, Carter also shared his concerns and priorities for the rest of the military installations within Georgia's First Congressional District including Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, the Townsend Bombing Range and Moody Air Force Base.
Excerpts of Carter's testimony are below. To view Carter's full testimony before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, please click here.
Thank you for this opportunity to share with you my concerns and priorities for the military installations within Georgia’s First Congressional District. It’s an honor to represent a district which houses four major military installations, every branch of the military, and thousands of veterans who have served our country so honorably. With this unique military footprint, the district’s defense elements are important not just to our state and region but to the nation and America’s interests around the world.
The First District is the proud home of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. As the largest Army installation east of the Mississippi River and home to the “Rock of the Marne,” the 3rd Infantry Division (ID), Fort Stewart has a long and storied past as well as a vibrant role in today’s national defense missions. Its level of significance and contributions continues to be a point of pride for the district, from spearheading the advance into Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom to the deployment of soldiers to West Africa to help contain the Ebola outbreak. Today, as I speak, the 3rd ID is deployed to Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.
With the Army’s planned manpower drawdowns, the maintenance of effective troop levels and mission sets at Fort Stewart has become a very concerning issue. I’ve heard discussions about reducing the total number of Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) nationwide and additional manpower cuts which could affect the 3rd ID by the reduction of one or even two BCTs. Such reductions would be a severe blow to the ability of the 3rd ID, Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield to provide their extraordinary capability to our national defense.
Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field are uniquely equipped and strategically located to deliver a devastating blow to our adversaries world-wide. It has vast training areas, modern facilities and an extraordinary network of intermodal deployment options through nearby ports and on-base and nearby airports. For those reasons and more, I am requesting that the Army broaden its evaluation of Fort Stewart and Hunter with regard to BCT reductions. That should include factors such as cost efficiencies of operations and speed of deployment, the regional training capabilities with other installations, and community support.
...Thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony to the Subcommittee today. With our rich military heritage, these issues are extremely important to me and my constituents in the First District of Georgia. I’m very proud of the men and women who serve in our military and it is my intention, as I am sure it is yours, to do everything possible to ensure they continue to be the best equipped, most highly trained, and well cared for fighting force in the world. I appreciate your attention to these requests and thank you again for the time today.
