The Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended during the summer that 130 U.S. military bases close and that another 45 be cut back.
The news sent shock waves through communities across the nation. Among the hardest hit was Charleston, S.C., which will lose its Naval Air Station and the Charleston Naval Shipyard along with almost 7,000 jobs. Other major facilities closing include the Orlando, Fla., Naval Training Center with 10,000 jobs and the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California with almost 6,000 jobs.
In an effort to cushion the blow, the Clinton administration proposed a program to help communities convert sites to civilian uses and create civilian jobs to replace the military jobs that were lost. The plan will cost $5 billion over a five-year period.
