The days nears. On May 16 Rumsfeld is expected to release a list of bases targeted for closure or realignment.

Georgia has some 13 military installations representing all five branches of America's armed defense force.

This coming Wednesday Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is expected to release a list of bases targeted for closure or realignment, the first such action the defense department has taken in 10 years.

A 1998 study that paved the way for the 2005 round of Base Realignment and Closure (commonly known as BRAC) found that nearly 25 percent of the nation's military installations are "excess."

Georgia survived previous BRAC rounds in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 with all of its bases intact.

The military as a whole contributes more than $23 billion to the state's economy.

(see 3-12-05 The Brunswick News.)