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Joint base basics

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Danielle Johnson
  • 87th Air Base Wing public affairs
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  Recently, the Warrior Spirit staff sat down with Col. Mike Polhemus, 87th Air Base Wing director of staff and joint basing office director, to discuss the basics of joint basing at McGuire, Fort Dix and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station. We hope the following interview answers some of the questions you may have:

WS - Why create a joint base here at these three installations?
MP - Well, the three bases here are contiguous. So the reasoning was, if you have three different bases that are in the same geographic area, getting three different funding streams from three different service chains, doing the same stuff - maybe differently - providing installation support to the warfighters, why can't one service do it more effectively than the three services doing it separately?

WS - What part did BRAC play in this?
MP - The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission determined that the Department of Defense could potentially work more efficiently by joining some bases located near each other, including McGuire, Fort Dix and Lakehurst. A separate part of that same BRAC law required the closure of Willow Grove Naval Air Station and directed units there to relocate to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

WS - What base functions are directly affected by the joint-basing initiative?
MP - There are 49 functions that the Secretary of Defense considers "installation support" under joint basing. These include finance, public affairs, housing, legal, contracting, chaplains, security services, fire and emergency services, and many other civil engineer and Services functions. Everything that you can imagine would go into a typical mission support group is defined as installation support.

WS - Will the joint base be considered an Air Force base?
MP - No, while the Air Force will be the "land owner," each of the installations will be considered essentially an annex of the Joint Base. There is absolutely nothing about joint basing that seeks to reduce the importance of each base's heritage.

WS - Will people lose their jobs as a result of joint basing here?
MP - Joint basing is not about cutting jobs. There will be some rearranging, so some people may not have exactly the same job, but we're aggressively working to make sure they are taken care of and not forgotten at the joint base.

WS - What is an air base wing?
MP - The 87th Air Base Wing is the service delivery organization for the joint base. Its mission will be to provide the 49 installation support functions for the entire joint base.

WS - Will there be Soldiers and Sailors working at the 87th Air Base Wing?
MP - The deputy joint base commander will be an Army colonel, Col. Joe Poth, and he will be the only Army military member who will be assigned to the wing. There will be more than 100 Sailors assigned to the joint base who will integrate into the 87th ABW, including a Navy O-6 (captain) who will be the deputy Mission Support Group commander.

WS - Why create a new air base wing?
MP - Originally, the 305th Air Mobility Wing planned to be the joint base service delivery organization since it was thought that would be the most efficient way to deliver support functions to the joint base. Our service leaders determined that the span of control was too large for an operational win and decided to build an organization focused on installation support.

WS - Where will the wings' headquarters be located?
MP - The 87th Air Base Wing headquarters will be located in Bldg. 2901, where the 305th AMW HQ was previously located. The 305th will be collocated with the 305th Operations Group headquarters.

WS - Who will man the gates? Will base access procedures change?
MP - The Joint Base Security Service Function will be responsible for all gates. It will be done through the use of DoD police and Security Forces on Fort Dix and McGuire, and contract security services on Lakehurst, though Air Force Security Forces will begin providing support to Lakehurst as well. The difference will be that they will operate according to Air Force regulations.

WS - Will there be different locations for basic services - ID cards, family support, morale, welfare and recreation, building maintenance, etc.?
MP - It is possible, in order to gain efficiencies or effectiveness. But hopefully changes will be kept to a minimum, and changes that are scheduled will be well publicized.

WS - What message would you like to send to all personnel at the three installations?
MP - For everyone at the joint base, it is our hope to make the entire transformation process as seamless as we possibly can, and as "behind the scenes" as possible. The standard of support at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is going to be identical for every Airman, Soldier, Sailor and Marine who lives and works on the joint base. There will be no favor with the joint base personnel based on their service affiliation. It is our goal that everyone will look upon Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as a great place to be assigned.