Fort Carson suggests that they are 'working on mending fences' and won't expand right now. Yet, they also say that the Army may still need to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site someday.
While it may sound admirable at first, we need only consider that the Army CAN'T EXPAND THIS YEAR anyway because of the temporary spending ban renewal last month (December).
This statement does nothing to offset the cloud of expansion that continues to hang over our heads though and for them to say 'we won't expand right now' seems to try to suggest it was somehow their idea.
If the spending ban hadn't gone through last month we expect that Fort Carson would be talking about how fast they are going forward with expansion.
The Army says for now commanders are looking at how to best use the land they have [at PCMS] and we commend them for that. However, it doesn't address the real need to evaluate the excess and underutilized testing and training ranges already owned by the DoD nationwide.
We believe if an honest appraisal is done that these existing resources are more than adequate to achieve the Army's training goals and objectives relative to the troop strength and basing decisions at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. Without ANY expansion of Pinon Canyon - this year or ever.
While it may sound admirable at first, we need only consider that the Army CAN'T EXPAND THIS YEAR anyway because of the temporary spending ban renewal last month (December).
This statement does nothing to offset the cloud of expansion that continues to hang over our heads though and for them to say 'we won't expand right now' seems to try to suggest it was somehow their idea.
If the spending ban hadn't gone through last month we expect that Fort Carson would be talking about how fast they are going forward with expansion.
The Army says for now commanders are looking at how to best use the land they have [at PCMS] and we commend them for that. However, it doesn't address the real need to evaluate the excess and underutilized testing and training ranges already owned by the DoD nationwide.
We believe if an honest appraisal is done that these existing resources are more than adequate to achieve the Army's training goals and objectives relative to the troop strength and basing decisions at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. Without ANY expansion of Pinon Canyon - this year or ever.
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