(The Center Square) – Fiscal support, forward-thinking protection, and assistance to veterans are key stories around the military footprint in North Carolina in 2024.
Passage of the defense budget this week is central to a number of projects. At time of publication Thursday, the $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2025 had passed the U.S. House of Representatives 281-140, the Senate 85-14 and awaited the signature of President Joe Biden.
The state’s six major military bases include the U.S. Army’s Fort Liberty and Pope Air Force Base, both in the southeastern part of the state; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in eastern North Carolina; and U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River along the coast, not more than an hour’s drive from the more inland MCAS Cherry Point. There are also two U.S. Coast Guard bases along the northern coast at Elizabeth City; and the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point on the southern coast in Brunswick County.
Seymour Johnson
Pending Biden’s signature, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Wayne County would be spared divesture of the F15-E Strike Eagles. The Air Force was going to take away 26 of the aircraft next year from the 335th Fighter Squadron. The plan would eliminate 520 jobs and retire the F-15E aircraft.
The 335th, along with the 494th Fighter Squadron based at Lakenheath Air Base in the United Kingdom, shot down 70-plus drones in defense of Israel on April 13-14.
Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune
More than $270 million toward construction projects for Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point got parked in a U.S. Senate committee in June by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The MilConVA legislation had passed the House 209-197.
For Cherry Point, the proposal includes $114.02 million for a composite repair facility; $106 million for an aircraft maintenance hangar; and $50 million for the F-35 Aircraft Sustainment Center. Camp Lejeune is ticketed for $25.4 million for the Marine Forces Special Operations Command Armory, colloquially known as MARSOC Armory.
Another $19 billion is going to the Department of Veterans Affairs mental health programs, with $3 billion of that for suicide prevention.
Driscoll nomination
Presidential 911 calls, the adage goes, are made to home of the U.S. Army Special Forces and 82nd Airborne in North Carolina.
The call to lead the Army has gone to a native North Carolinian, too. Dan Driscoll, veteran of deployment to Iraq in 2009, is the nomination for secretary of the Army by President-elect Donald Trump. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the 38-year-old would succeed Christine Wormuth.
Driscoll would lead the nation’s largest military branch, carrying responsibility for more than 1 million soldiers.
The Boone native earned his undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in three years. He completed Army Ranger School, deployed with the 10th Mountain Division out Fort Drum in New York to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and earned his law degree from Yale on the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Defense Innovation Unit
Thirteen of North Carolina’s 16 members of Congress are pushing the Pentagon to establish an onRamp Hub during the next round of expansions in the Defense Innovation Unit. North Carolina already has a regional presence for the Defense Innovation Unit with a National Security Innovation Network.
Fayetteville VA Medical Center
Overall quality of care at a southeastern North Carolina medical center serving veterans was questioned by two congressmen.
The Fayetteville VA Medical Center and its Prosthetics Services Department were cited in a letter addressed to Denis McDonough, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and authored by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C. The center is utilized by constituents in Rouzer’s district.
Tillis and Rouzer say quality of life for veterans has been diminished due to the poor care, poor communication and “overburdensome bureaucratic processes.”
Homeless veterans
More than 700 veterans are estimated homeless among 7,200 total in North Carolina, the annual federal homelessness report says.
The state’s change in the assessment of 2023 is 4% from 2022, and minus-17.4% from 2007. The analysis says 9 in 10,000 are experiencing sheltered homelessness.
The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report is conducted by the Office of Community Planning and Development within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is provided to Congress and is generally referred to as the Point In Time count.
