Under fire, Pentagon says
German training center NOT a baseMay 3, 1996
Web posted at: 1 a.m. EDTFrom Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Reacting to criticism of an agreement allowing Germany to construct a pilot training center and base planes on U.S. soil, the Pentagon insisted Thursday the German facility is not a "base."
"I would describe it as not a base; they are tenants," Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said.
The point is a sensitive one, because since the announcement of the agreement to allow Germany to build the training center at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, the base, the Pentagon, and members of Congress have been deluged with calls from people complaining the arrangement compromises U.S. sovereignty.
"This should not be portrayed by anybody as a German invasion or occupation of U.S. space. It's not that," Bacon told reporters. "This is an opportunity for two allies to train together. It's an opportunity for us to actually return 40 years of training that we have performed on German soil."
The center was dedicated Wednesday in ceremonies hosted by the German defense minister and marked by a flyover of German jets and a presentation of colors in which the German flag was displayed above the American flag.
The center will house 300 German military personnel and their families, along with a dozen German Tornado fighter jets. By 1999, planners say, 66 German planes and some 900 personnel will be stationed at the site.
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