The multi-million dollar question about any troop reductions

The clock is ticking to eventually find out how Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement of 100-thousand less troops by 2019 will affect Southern Colorado.

Veteran economist Fred Crowley has been crunching the numbers since the announcement, “For every 1000 troops that we lose, we lose about 800 civilian jobs in our community.” Crowley tells me that more than 35 percent of our economy revolves around the military and their spending habits. It’s not just from Fort Carson, but from all of our military installations. He thinks that community leaders need to start planning now for any possible reductions, “If you see a migration from the community, the effects would be immediate. When we plan for budgets next year, we should plan for the conservative side instead of the optimistic side.”

Crowley also believes it’s not all gloom and doom when it comes to any troop reductions. He thinks that we could be the survivor in all of this, “Fort Carson had an enormous amount of activity, new infrastructure, new troops and training. All these things suggest we are a good place to keep for the military. We are not going to be gone.”