Proposed Pentagon Cuts Could Affect Peterson Air Force Base
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Officials at Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs are bracing for possible cuts.
Tuesday, The Gazette quoted 302nd Airlift Wing spokeswoman Ann Skarban as saying 200 airmen and a third of the planes now assigned to the wing could be cut as the Pentagon tries to reduce spending by $900 billion over a decade. The wing's commander, Col. Courtney Arnold, says the proposal is in its early stages.
The Gazette reports the proposed target is the 52nd Airlift Squadron, for which a $5.6 million operations facility was built when it came to Peterson in 2009 as part of an Air Force plan to tie active-duty airmen to reserve units. Aerial firefighting is a specialty of the 302nd, whose reservists have responded to Colorado wildfires in recent summers.
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