News

Generals' testimony ‘a hit'
By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer

Saving Ellsworth Air Force Base is still an uphill fight, but the grade isn't quite so steep after the testimony Tuesday of two retired Air Force generals.

Retired four-star Gen. John Loh and retired Lt. Gen. Thad Wolfe brought the power of experience and a heightened level of military prominence to the meeting with members of the national commission that will decide Ellsworth's fate.

Bruce Rampelberg of Rapid City, chairman of the Ellsworth Task Force, said Tuesday that the generals gave the effort to preserve Ellsworth a crucial level of credibility and factual, well-reasoned argument against closure.

"It was kind of a thing where both of these people stepped up to the plate based on their knowledge of the bomber community and volunteered to make those statements," Rampelberg said. "They are recognized in the civilian and military communities as people who know what they are talking about. They scored a hit, if you will."

BRAC commissioner Samuel Skinner agreed. At a news conference after Tuesday's hearing, Skinner said the fact that two generals testified without compensation impressed him and that their testimony would be given great weight.

Loh, who now lives in Williamsburg, Va., served as Air Force vice chief of staff during the first Gulf War and also was commander of the Air Combat Command — which operates all war planes, including bombers — for three years leading up to his 1995 retirement.

Because of health problems, Loh made his comments Tuesday afternoon by videotape projected onto big screens in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center arena, where three members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission met in a public hearing. Loh's appearance resulted in part from a friendship with Rapid City businessman Al Cornella that dates back to the 1980s.

"He's been a friend for many, many years," Cornella said Wednesday. "I think he's a visionary officer, one of the greatest Air Force officers who has ever served. I think his testimony was the lynchpin to yesterday's presentation."

Both Loh and Wolfe, who lives in Colorado Springs, Col., challenged the decision by the Pentagon to propose closing Ellsworth and consolidating its B-1B Lancer bombers with the other half of the B-1 fleet at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. That would mean operating the 67 active B-1s out of Dyess, a situation that Loh said would be costly, cause crowding and be less efficient in operations and training.

"It's a recipe for unmanageable congestion and never- ending chaos that spells inefficiency, waste and degraded operational readiness for the B-1s," Loh testified. "Moreover, having the entire B-1 fleet at one base with only a single runway presents an unacceptable security risk. This situation provides an inviting target to an enemy that could render the entire B-1 fleet inoperable with a single weapon."

Cornella said Loh's involvement at the meeting "just kind of evolved" from personal conversations between the two men.

"I had visited with him, but he made the offer," Cornella said. "He wanted to do this. He did it of his own volition."

Loh, a former fighter pilot, still works as an adviser for the Air Force and maintains a highly respected profile in the military community, Cornella said.

"He's a great man. I just can't speak highly enough of him. He's a true military hero," Cornella said. "And Gen. Wolfe, too, is just as respected."

Wolfe served as Loh's deputy at Air Combat Command and is a former commander of the Strategic Warfare Center at Ellsworth. He also is friends with Cornella, Rapid City Chamber of Commerce executive director Jim McKeon and Pat McElgunn, another leader of the Ellsworth Task Force. McKeon and McElgunn are retired Air Force colonels.

Wolfe said during a telephone interview Wednesday that he was contacted by a consultant working with the Ellsworth Task Force to see if he would testify. Like Loh, Wolfe said he testified without compensation because he believed in the importance of Ellsworth to national defense.

Wolfe also said he believed there was a chance to get the base off the closure list.

"There's always a statistical probability," he said. "Historically, it hasn't been a very high probability. But it seems to me there's a much higher probability if you make factual arguments to the commission."

If those arguments turn out to be powerful enough to get Ellsworth off the base closure list, the volunteer appearance of two generals — in person and on tape — during Tuesday's meeting will be remembered as a key factor, Rampelberg said.

"I believe they did have an impact on the commissioners who were here," he said. "I think the commissioners went away with a good feeling about the military support for Ellsworth and, more importantly, about the military value of Ellsworth for the next 25 or 30 years."

The meeting was a big step in the process of saving the base, Rampelberg said. Using the perspectives from Loh and Wolfe, the Ellsworth Task Force will continue to work with the state's congressional delegation to strengthen the case it will make to BRAC commissioners and their staff, he said.

"This is just Round Two of a 12-round fight," he said. "And we'll be spending a lot of time with the commission and their staffers."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com