Opinion: Getting the F-35 in Beaufort won't be a shield against base closure

Flickr user ravages

Spotted a smart rebuttal to The Island Packet's column from August 22 that seems to imply that getting the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter training squadrons at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort will somehow offer future insurance against the base being closed.

In the grand scheme of things if the Beaufort base falls out of favor, relocating a training mission is a lot cheaper than running what is seen as a redundant base.

Read the letter to the editor here.

That said, the point I'm not seeing drawn clearly in either bit of opinion is that the military generally doesn't want to be in communities that don't want them there. And if Beaufort does come up on the base closing short list next time, a push back on the training jets now may be all it takes to tip the scales later.