Landrieu to Army: Withdraw Current Proposal to Downsize Fort Polk

Press Release

Joined by Sen. Vitter in sending letter to Secretary of the Army

Today, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., along Senator Vitter, R-La., sent a letter to John M. McHugh, Secretary to the Army, urging him to withdraw the Army's latest round of proposed end strength reductions under the Army 2020 Force Structure Realignment. In the letter, Sen. Landrieu raised concerns related to the Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA) and called attention to the significant economic impact of Fort Polk in Vernon Parish and Central Louisiana.

This letter will accompany the thousands of comment letters from Louisianians writing to the Pentagon to save Fort Polk. Fort Polk Progress and the local community leadership are organizing this response effort in communities across Southwest Louisiana. Throughout the comment period, Sen. Landrieu has encouraged Louisianians residents to participate in letter writing campaigns via her official Facebook and Twitter pages.

The letter outlines the shortfalls of the Army's current proposal for troop reductions, while offering a more complete and adequate assessment of the Army's entire enterprise to determine the most appropriate places where cuts can be made to assure the Army can still fulfill its mission. Read the letter online here.

"We believe further steps to downsize the Army, in the midst of the current downsizing, is ill-timed and dangerous. We realize the Army is responding to legislative budget imperatives and is reducing its end-strength further to achieve required savings. Failing to adequately evaluate the impacts of end-strength reductions and structure adjustments will result in a "hollow' Army," said Senators Landrieu and Vitter. "We are also concerned that the Army continues to focus its reductions so intensely on its core combat strength. For these fundamental reasons, we believe the current proposal should be withdrawn, along with its accompanying SPEA."

"Coupled with the above concerns, we believe that the SPEA suffers from fundamental flaws that prevent it from serving as an effective decision-making tool," the letter continued. "We urge you to fully consider these comments to the SPEA during your decision making."

"Military Mary's' Work to Keep Fort Polk strong

Since 2005, Sen. Landrieu has helped invest more than $1 billion in federal funds into Fort Polk. In the last two years alone, Sen. Landrieu secured nearly $100 million in federal funds for military construction projects at the base including:

-$23 million for the brigade complex
-$9.2 for the fire station and $6.1 million for the child care facility
-$11 million for housing improvements
-$27 million in federal money for the purchase of 4,900 acres south of Fort Polk and wrote to the Sec. of the Army to urge approval of the land acquisition
-$20 million, including $18.3 million in federal funds to construct South Polk Elementary to serve the children of our military families

The Senator has continued her efforts to keep the post strong and growing. In April, Sen. Landrieu met with the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, Raymond T. Odierno and pressed the General on when Fort Polk is receiving the additional troops that the Army announced last year would be relocating to Louisiana as part of the Army 2020 plan.

The Senator also requested that Fort Polk's Hospital, the 115th Combat Support Hospital, keep its current capabilities. She stressed the importance and need to have a fully functioning hospital at the most rigorous training site in the country.

Currently, more than 9,500 troops are stationed at Fort Polk. The post has an annual average economic impact to Louisiana of $1.7 billion and is the second-largest employer after the state of Louisiana.

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