2005 BRAC

The military committee consisted of the following individuals: 

• Michael Shyne
• MeLynn Pattillo
• Lance Grace
• Larry Morgan
• Ken Holland - Consultant
• Howard Moffett - Consultant

The biographies of the first four members can be viewed from the members page.  Short bios for Ken Holland and Howard Moffett follow.

Ken Holland is a retired GS-15.  At the time of his retirement, he was the highest level civil servant on Holloman AFB and the technical advisor for the 46th Test Group.  In that position, Ken was involved in a myriad of test programs involving current and future weapons systems for the DoD.  Unlike the vast majority of both military and civilians working on Holloman, Ken was uniquely aware of and intimately involved with "future" programs that could or would be coming to Holloman AFB and WSMR.  For example, in the early 1990s, Ken was the individual responsible for bringing the Global Positioning System (GPS) testing to Holloman AFB, which is now the center of expertise for such testing.  In addition, after his retirement, Ken was an early advocate of the Predator coming to Holloman AFB.  That was over 5 years earlier than the eventual announcement of the Predator training wing coming to Holloman.  Ken was an invaluable asset for understanding the future of the military in the Alamorgordo area.

Howard Moffett retired from the active USAF many years ago as a civil engineer.  He then became the head civil servant for civil engineering at Holloman AFB for the next 20 years.  In this position, Howard became the most knowledgeable person about the Holloman AFB infrastructure - past, current and future.  For example, the entire infrastructure transformation that has occurred on Holloman AFB over the last decade was planned and implemented by Howard.  This includes all the construction for the F-117s and the German Air Force in the early 1990s as well as all the "quality of life" upgrades - such as the new BX, dorms, gyms and housing areas - constructed over the last few years.  In addition, Howard had a unique understanding of the official relationships established between Holloman AFB and the local communities, state government, federal government entities and local military facilities.  Like Ken Holland, Howard was an exceptional resource for understanding infrastructure issues for both the military and civilian communities in the Tularosa basin.

A little more needs to be added about the first four members.

Michael Shyne, as a member of DOCA, has unique insight on military matters both in the United States and in foreign countries.  He is regularly a member of organized tours that travel throughout the country and world where he is briefed by the highest level of military leaders over a wide assortment of topics. His personal meeting on a trip to Canada with the USAF Chief of Staff led to the eventual meeting between three members of the committee and General Jumper at his office in the Pentagon.    

Larry Morgan spent over 25 years in Washington DC on Capital Hill in a variety of positions for members of Congress including the Chief of Staff for two Congressmen and a Senator.  In addition, he was responsible for issues associated with Pacific Islanders while working for the Department of the Interior.  He has a unique understanding of how the US government political system and congress actually work. 

MeLynn Pattillo is a very successful business woman who has close contacts with very influential people within New Mexico. As a member of the New Mexico Amigos, she regularly travels with the highest levels of business people and politicians on national and international tours.  Through this medium, her contacts and information gathering abilities are priceless.

Lance Grace is a retired USAF test pilot who has more experience as a test pilot conducting test missions on WSMR than anyone in the history of the range.  Due to the nature of the programs he was involved with, Lance had extensive knowledge and unique experience with future USAF fighter weapons systems capabilities.  He recognized a decade or more before it was necessary, how important the "WSMR Shadow" would become to all components of the United States military for both test and training purposes.  In addition, after his retirement, Lance worked closely with both the Navy and Army in a variety of development programs including the Army's Future Combat System and the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer.     

The committee met, at least, on a weekly basis and took many trips to both gather and disseminate information.  The local military facilities - Holloman AFB, White Sands Missile Range and Ft Bliss - were visited on a regular basis; however, many meetings occurred in other locations across the country.  The highest level that the committee briefed were the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert and the US Air Force Chief of Staff, General John Jumper.

The central issue discussed in all briefings was the unique military value provided by the combination of military restricted airspace above military ground ranges here in Southern New Mexico.  There is no other area in the continental United States that provides equivalent size, diversity of terrain and infrastructure capabilities as the combination of White Sands Missile Range, McGregor Range, Dona Anna Range and the surrounding military airspace located within the "WSMR Shadow".  Because of the increased range capabilities of both modern sensors and weapons, there is no other location in the country capable of providing the space required for both testing and training associated with these modern weapons systems. 

This point obviously became well understood by the appropriate decision makers as seen by the following actions that occurred during and after the 2005 BRAC:

• The massive expansion of Ft Bliss eventually becoming the largest Army post in the United States with a quarter of the US based Army personnel
• Operational Army units moving onto WSMR
• WSMR chosen as the site for the integration testing for the Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program
• Ft Bliss chosen as the site for the first operational units to operate FCS vehicles
• Holloman AFB chosen as the site for one of the only four worldwide operational     F-22 Raptor locations
• Holloman AFB chosen as the site for the Predator training wing

To support the above programs, the three local military facilities (Holloman, WSMR and Ft Bliss) have recently come together to turn the various military air and ground ranges within the "WSMR Shadow" into a more cohesive and functional entity.  This "Triad" initiative is essential for the success of all the programs and organizations moving into the local region.  They are truly transforming the local area into "The National Range".

Several sets of slides are available for viewing.  There are no words provided.  If you would like to listen to the full briefing, feel free to contact one of the military committee members. 

The first set consists of the initial briefing given by Lance Grace to the Alamogordo Forum in the Spring of 2003.  Lance had very unique insider insight on what had actually been studied and recommended but not implemented, during the previous BRAC in 1994.  For this reason, he viewed the 2005 BRAC as a tremendous opportunity for the local area. 

Click here for Lance's Original BRAC 2005 Briefing to the Forum in Spring 2003 (PDF - 4M). 

During one of his regular business related trips to DC, a friend of Lance's arranged a meeting with Fred Pease.  Fred is a retired USAF F-15 pilot who now is responsible for all the military airspace in the United States.  He was well aware of the uniqueness of the "WSMR Shadow" and later acted as one of the few full-time technical advisors for the BRAC board.  The following slides go over what the characteristics of the "WSMR Shadow".  

Click here for assorted slides about the "WSMR Shadow" (PDF - 4M).

Congressman Steve Pearce had arranged the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, to visit the local area in the late Summer of 2003.  Congressman Pearce had already been thoroughly briefed by the military committee and arranged Representative Hastert to meet with two members of the forum to view the following briefing.

Click here for the Briefing to the Speaker of the House in August 2003 (PDF - 4M). 

 After Michael Shyne met General Jumper, General Jumper called and invited Michael and the Forum to meet with him at the Pentagon in the Spring of 2005.  The following slides are extracted from that briefing presented by Michael, MeLynn and Lance.

Click here for the Briefing to General Jumper in March 2005 (PDF - 4M).