SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 1 ⎯ Purpose and NeedAt the SBCT’s full strength, its Soldiers are expected to have approximately 2,210 spouses. Of those,194 would be married to other members of the military. Thus, 2,016 of the spouses would be civilians.In addition, approximately 1,610 children are expected to accompany the Soldiers of the 2/25 th .About 81 percent of these children would be of pre-school age (1 to 4) or elementary school age (5 to11). The rest would be of middle school age (12 to 14) and high school age (15 to 18). These resultsare based on the number of children by grade of Soldiers in the Army, provided by the Office ofDemographics, Assistant Chief of Staff, G–1, Headquarters, Department of the Army.Meeting the stationing needs of the 2/25 th SBCT means ensuring that the Soldiers and Family membersof the 2/25 th have the ability to maintain a high quality of life that includes access to schools,medical facilities, housing, and recreational opportunities. Furthermore, this means to a large degreethat the Soldiers and Families of the SBCT have a level of predictability for where they will be stationedand living when not deployed overseas so that they will be able to establish a high quality oflife within their communities without being translocated and uprooted multiple times. To promotequality of life and Soldier retention, the Army has made a commitment to long-term stationing ofSoldiers. Part of this commitment has involved the signing of long-term contracts that allow Soldiersand their Families to remain at one location for an extended period.1.2.1.12 Strategic DeploymentThe NSS, NDS, QDR, and ACP provide directives and explicit guidance for the Army to improve itscapacity to project its power rapidly from locations within the U.S. to prevent, deter, or defeat itsenemies and support national security interests. The SBCT was designed to provide the Army withthe capability to deploy rapidly and to protect vital U.S. security interests using enhanced capabilities.The Army remains committed to its strategic goal of having the capability to deploy an SBCT anywherein the world within 96 hours of its notification to deploy (U.S. Government Accounting Office[GAO] 2003). Rapid deployment capability requires significant air transport assets to include heavylift aircraft capable of transporting SBCT vehicles and equipment and the runway capacity to accommodatethe potentially hundreds of sorties necessary to deploy the full SBCT. Any permanent stationinglocation must have ample airfield and air deployment capacity to accommodate the airlift assetsrequired to deploy the SBCT. In addition, as highlighted by the GAO in 2003, to achieve its deploymentgoals the Army must geographically distribute SBCTs to influence different geographical areasof interest throughout the world more readily. To implement these goals, Army force managers havemade decisions to station an SBCT in Europe to provide more rapid global reach. Currently, threeSBCTs are stationed at Fort Lewis, one in Alaska, one in Europe. The 2/25 th SBCT is currently deployedand its final home stationing location will be decided by this EIS. In addition to these SBCTs,an SBCT has been established within the Army National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.While not a requirement for meeting the Army’s 96-hour goal for SBCT deployment, sealift capacityis an important consideration for strategic mobility and provides the Army with additional deploymentflexibility. Sealift capability provides strategic planners with important advantages to airlift.While typically not used for rapid deployment, sealift capability provides the Army with a means totransport the large quantities of equipment that comprise the SBCT. By virtue of the large size ofcargo ships, sealift can move the most equipment and supplies at the lowest cost. In addition, sealiftdeployment does not require the intensive coordination and dedication of resources that airlift requires.In a large-scale conflict, strategic sealift facilities provide advantages when considering stationinglocations for Army brigades (Hazdra 2001). Therefore, access to sealift is an important considerationin the stationing of an SBCT.February 2008 1-10 2/25th SBCT Final EIS