Some communities in Germany, Japan, S. Korea face closing of commissaries

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=19044

Despite angry opposition from top Army officials, the Department of Defense’s Personnel and Readiness Office is sticking with cost-cutting plans to close as many as 10 commissaries in Germany, Japan and South Korea before the end of September.

Those targeted for certain closure are Idar-Oberstein, Neubrücke, and Panzer Casern in Germany; Camp Kure, Sagami Depot and Sagamihara in Japan; and Chinhae Naval Air Station in Korea.

Three others at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany; Hario, Japan; and Pusan, South Korea, await the verdict of Pentagon accountants. If they are found to have fallen short of cost-efficiency goals during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, then they also will be closed this fiscal year, according to an Oct. 22 Personnel and Readiness Office information paper obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The announcements, not surprisingly, have been met with gloom in the affected communities, several of which are home to units currently deployed to Iraq.

<snip>

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., cited Bell’s memo Nov. 19 at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which she expressed anger over the planned closing of the commissaries. She also decried the Pentagon’s study of turning over 58 Department of Defense schools in the United States — including those at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Fort Stewart, Ga. — to local school districts.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Support the troops.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Well, since these are all developed countries

it wouldn't be too much of a hardship for military personnel to shop off base.

They might even have to--gasp!--encounter the local people.

[barbaraann]

4. Lydia, the cost of off-base food in some of those places

is probably going to be triple what it was in the commissary. I used to live in one of those bases. :-)

[barbaraann]

3. Yet Bush gets a complete personal cooking staff.

However, I will bet that there will be some special arrangement made for high-ranking officers and their families. Having grown up in the military, I would bet that there will be regular delivery from nearby commissaries for them.