Anchorage Daily News

Many Fairbanks and North Pole residents met news of the Department of Defense recommendation to gut Eielson Air Force Base with the same reaction Friday morning: "No way!"

As in, no way would the department carve nearly a tenth of the workforce out of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and then, no way will Sen. Ted Stevens and Alaska's powerful congressional delegation let it happen.

"If Eielson closed, it would devastate our business in North Pole," said Ken Pleasants, who helps run the three Interior Wendy's franchises and counts anywhere from one to three airmen's kids among every 10 of his employees.

A former Army brat who lived and worked on Eielson for years, Pleasants, like many, found it hard to believe that the Pentagon was recommending that Eielson's A-10 "Warthogs" and sleek F-16 fighters be scattered to bases in Louisiana, Nevada and Georgia.

Eielson is expensive to run and costly to build on, the Department concluded in its report issued Friday. A final decision is expected in September.

At stake are more than 2,800 enlisted positions and 300 civilian jobs that represent $214 million a year in wages, according to the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

The numbers get bigger as you begin to count airmen's kids and spouses, another 3,600 people who buy cars, sell hamburgers and attend schools throughout the area.

Brigitta Windisch-Cole, a state labor economist who studies trends in the Interior, said airmen tend to be a little bit older than soldiers in the Army and may be more likely to stick around a few years in Fairbanks or North Pole, buying homes and sending kids to school.

Fairbanks school district spokesman Nick Stayrook said more than 10 percent of current students come from families who live or work at Eielson.

If the Eielson realignment is approved, troops could begin leaving the base as early as next year.

To dampen the sting of potential losses at Eielson, the borough looks forward to continued growth at Fort Wainwright, the Fairbanks Army post with more than 5,000 military and civilian employees beginning its new role as home to the Army's scrappy Stryker vehicles. That base was unaffected by Friday's proposal.

Sen. Gene Therriault grew up in his district, which includes both North Pole and the Air Force base. In his subdivision of about 15 homes just outside North Pole, at least three houses belong to active-duty military personnel and another two are home to civilians who work on base, he said.

Last time the Department of Defense held a round of base closings and realignments, 85 percent of the proposed cuts made it through, he said, and from what Therriault's heard, it may be even tougher now to get your project off the chopping block.

A newer member of the Interior delegation, Rep. Jay Ramras, was elected last year after gaining local fame as a restaurateur. His Food Factory locations, including one in North Pole, are common haunts for military personnel.

"I've got real poker chips in the game," said Ramras, adding that without Eielson troops to support service jobs, North Pole is in danger of shrinking.

Like many Interior residents, Ramras wondered if the state's congressional delegation could somehow knock Eielson off the blacklist. Still, he said, "Anybody who shrugs this off and says, 'Well, Sen. Stevens will take care of this,' is yanking their own chain."

Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker said there's time to try to soften the potential blow to the region while looking for new ways to boost the local economy.

"A gas pipeline project would provide significant opportunities and should be pushed even harder," he said.

Whitaker and Interior lawmakers said they had no inkling Eielson was in the Defense Department's crosshairs. Even the base commander, Brigadier Gen. Marke "Hoot" Gibson, only learned the news Friday morning.

"I think, like probably a lot of folks, I was still stumbling around for a while trying to get my feet under me," he said.

Reporter Kyle Hopkins can be reached at khopkins@adn.com or call 1-907-352-6710.