SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 2 ⎯ Description of the Proposed Action and Alternativesstationing locations for these types of units. Construction to support Army Growth would not occurwithin the time frame required to meet the needs of the 2/25 th SBCT 5 .2.4.2 Application of Screening Criteria to identify a full range of reasonable AlternativesThe Army used the elements of need for the Proposed Action in conjunction with other external limitingfactors to narrow the field of installations to those capable of supporting the requirements of the2/25 th SBCT. This section describes the Army’s decision-making process for selecting reasonable alternativesthat could meet the Purpose and Need for the stationing of the 2/25 th . The screening criteriainclude availability of training infrastructure, maneuver-training land, and garrison support infrastructure;compatibility with special mission requirements; and ability to support strategic considerations.These screening criteria were applied to the full range of reasonable alternatives to determine the installationlocations that meet the five primary areas of need for the implementation of the ProposedAction. The Army did not arbitrarily exclude or eliminate any potential alternatives from considerationin its assessment of alternatives for permanently stationing the 2/25 th . The Army began the alternativeidentification process with approximately 140 installations, and through the process detailedbelow determined three installations to be reasonable alternatives that met all of the screening criteria.Appendix A presents the installations that were evaluated and subsequently excluded from furtherconsideration as alternatives, and the reason for their exclusion. The reasonable alternatives for permanentlystationing the 2/25 th SBCT are installations in Hawaii, Colorado, and Alaska.1) Training Infrastructure: As previously discussed, the ability to support the training of theSBCT is an essential element of need for the Proposed Action. As part of the transformationprocess, the Army has implemented a sweeping modernization program for its outdated trainingranges and infrastructure. This program is part of the Military Construction (MILCON) program.To maintain its training proficiency and mission readiness, the SBCT must have access to thestandardized set of modernized ranges and digital training facilities. Because of resource limitations,the Army has only been able to conduct range modernization fully at select training installationswhere major Active Duty Units are stationed. The Army allocates a majority of its traininginfrastructure funding to these installations it categorizes as Tier 1 or 2 (higher priority) installations.Because of funding resource limitations, the Army has not been able to conduct significanttraining infrastructure modernization at installations below this threshold. To meet the Army’spurpose and need for the Proposed Action the stationing location selected must have modernized(Tier 1 or 2) training range infrastructure.In general, National Guard and Army Reserve installations have not yet been able to complete thefull measure of range modernization that is required to test the combat capabilities of the SBCT.National Guard and Reserve installations that have undergone a significant level of modernization,such as Fort Dix, New Jersey, or Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for example, are fully engagedwith missions to mobilize, train, and deploy National Guard and Reserve Soldiers and these installationsdo not have the extra range capacity to support the 2/25 th . Those installations that havenot undergone significant training and range modernization activities (Tier 3 installations) orwhich are operating at full capacity supporting Reserve component mobilization have been elimi-5The Army is operating under the FY07 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The FY07 NDAA amended 10 U.S.C.§ 619(b) to state that unless otherwise provided for by law, the Army’s permanent minimum active duty end-strength maynot be less than 512,400. The FY07 NDAA also authorized the Secretary of Defense to increase the Army active duty endstrengthup to 532,400 for FY08 and FY09. The Army’s intent is to continue to increase the strength in accordance withCongressional authorizations to meet the requirements defined in current force structure documents. The Army has conductedanalysis for growth up to 547,400 Active Duty Soldiers and the addition of up to 6 more BCTs (Army 2007b). TheArmy signed a ROD on December 19, 2007 to implement this growth.February 2008 2–13 2/25th SBCT Final EIS