Nicole June Reporting
njune@clarksvillenow.com
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – The rumor that the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade “Thunder” Brigade will be removed from Fort Campbell has been confirmed by the Department of Defense.
Army spokesman Matthew Bourke said the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade is the only deactivation being announced Thursday. The brigade will be deactivated and its members sent elsewhere.
The unit’s shutdown will leave Fort Campbell with a total population of 26,500 soldiers by the end of Fiscal Year 2015 next October. The removal of the brigade means a loss of 2,400 soldiers.
Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and Congressman Ed Whitfield released a statement regarding the announcement:
“We are deeply disappointed by the Obama administration’s decision to remove the 159th CAB from Fort Campbell. It is bad news for our nation’s security and for the local Fort Campbell community,” the statement said.
Montgomery County Commissioners passed a resolution last week requesting the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that will stop the legal requirements in the 2011 Budget Control Act to halt sequestration.
The resolution also urges Congress and the Department of Defense to keep the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, saying the infrastructure and support currently exists at Fort Campbell and the relocation of the 159th would burden U.S. taxpayers.
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“Our military’s readiness and national security must remain the highest priority for the American people, and for Fort Campbell’s troops and families in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky,” the statement from the senators said. “We believe that cuts need to be made in places other than deployable troops as a means to make smart cuts to government spending. We also must not allow our number of troops to fall to the dangerously low levels being sought by the Obama Administration, especially at a time of increasing instability in the world.”