Idaho National Guard Proposes Plan
Back in 2011, Congress asked the National Guard Bureau to study "Readiness Centers" across the nation to determine if those facilities, including some constructed nearly 60 years ago, remain viable today. The average age of Idaho’s Readiness Centers is 44 years.
Currently, the Idaho National Guard has facilities in Bonners Ferry, St. Anthony, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, Pocatello, Preston, Burley, Twin Falls, Gooding, Jerome, Hailey, Mountain Home, Nampa, Caldwell, Emmett, Payette, Grangeville, Orofino, Moscow, Lewiston, Post Falls, Rigby, Driggs, Twin Falls, Wilder, and Boise.
After an extensive study of National Guard facilities in Idaho, and taking several factors into consideration, Idaho's proposal to Congress for our state would close National Guard facilities in many areas around the state, including the Bonners Ferry armory, and establish nine Readiness Centers in the vicinities of Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Post Falls, and the Lewiston-Moscow area, as well as four in southwestern Idaho’s Treasure Valley.
The Idaho National Guard's study turned up several issues of concern relating to the currently operating Readiness Centers around the state.
1. Most current Idaho Readiness Center sites have insufficient acreage for expansion. The Idaho Army National Guard’s study determined that all but two of the existing readiness center sites—Mountain Home and Gowen Field in Boise—have insufficient acreage for expansion. That means 24 of the 26 sites do not suitably accommodate soldiers and unit equipment, and as a result are being considered for closure.
2. City populations and businesses encroaching closely to current Idaho Readiness Centers. Many of these facilities were built on what were at the time remote tracts of land donated decades ago to the Guard by the city or county and away from town centers. But in many cases the communities have grown and now envelope the sites, limiting their ability to expand. Additionally, federal guidelines now include new mandates regarding storage, square footage per soldier, and distances between perimeters and structures—all requiring additional space.
“If the Guard needs to remodel a building, most likely there’s a need for additional land to expand and in most cases, the current lots are too small for additional square footage, force protection perimeters, and even vehicle parking,” said Major Lee Rubel, a planning officer with the Idaho Army National Guard’s Construction Facility Management Office.
3. Changing demographics. Current personnel and future recruits also are considerations, and the demographics have changed. Recruiting populations have shifted over the past 50 years to larger regional population centers. Idaho's new plan attempts to establish sites within 50 miles of these population centers. In some cases the Guard’s study found Readiness Centers located in communities without a single local soldier being assigned there.
4. Travel distances and times. “It is a command and control issue for leaders of units that sprawl across a large geographical area,” said Colonel Farin Schwartz, Construction Facility Management Officer for the Idaho Army National Guard. “A commander uses so much of his or her precious time just commuting while circulating though the units. This proposal would reduce that. It would also facilitate a commander’s ability to rapidly coordinate and respond to a state emergency by having personnel and equipment consolidated in regionally strategic locations.”
5. Aging facilities. “When we construct facilities, they’re built with the next 67 years in mind, and during that lifespan we can plan to conduct one major and two minor remodels in order to keep conditions safe and efficient for our personnel,” said Major Rubel. “For our buildings that were constructed in the 1950s and 60s, we need to plan the end of their life cycle.”
In adding all this up, the Idaho Army National Guard determined the Guard and the state would best be served by closing many facilities around the state and establishing the nine regional Readiness Centers as described above. One of the facilities on the closure list is the Armory in Bonners Ferry.
Proposal Submitted to Congress—Multiple Times
Idaho has submitted this proposal annually to Congress in 2013, 2014, and again this year in 2015. The Idaho National Guard has had hopes each year its proposal would be accepted. Idaho's proposal competes each year in a group of proposals from 54 U.S. states and territories for modernization and upgrades to their facilities. The 2013 proposal was not successful for Idaho. The results of the 2014 proposal won't be announced until February 2016, and the most recent 2015 proposal has to wait until February 2017 and the publication of the Annual Presidential Budget before its status is known.
The nationwide Readiness Center Transformation Master Plan, involves setting priorities years into the future, contingent on congressional approval and funding. Therefore, if Idaho's proposal were to be accepted by Congress, it would be years before definite changes would be seen.
Were the plan to be accepted and the Bonners Ferry Armory eventually closed, the Bonners Ferry personnel and equipment would most likely be transferred to the planned Post Falls regional facility.
"There is not a set time for when the Bonners Ferry facility would be closed because these new Readiness Centers are all part of a 30-40 year plan, which has not been approved or funded, and there are no certainties at this point," said Major Christopher Borders with the Idaho National Guard. "Also, the new proposed Readiness Center in the Post Falls Area would have to be constructed prior to the closing of Bonners Ferry."
Brief History of the Early Years of the Boundary County Unit of the Idaho National Guard
The Bonners Ferry unit of the Idaho National Guard began in 1940 as Battery B Field Artillery. Later, in 1954, as local citizens successfully lobbied to have an engineer unit assigned to Bonners Ferry, the unit was transformed into the 127th Engineer Company. The hope was that an engineering unit would be a powerful resource to use when the Kootenai River threatened flooding, and sure enough, that very summer of 1954 the unit had to skip their summer training to help combat the overflowing Kootenai River.
In 1956, the unit was reorganized as Company A of the 882nd Engineer Battalion, a member of the Idaho Falls 145th Engineer Group, and that same summer once again helped combat the flooding Kootenai. Because of the need for help with spring flooding, the unit kept equipment on hand specifically to help with flood control.
But their work locally back in those days extended far beyond flood control alone. Bonners Ferry's Company A also pitched in to help with snow removal in the wintertime, leveling of the playground areas at Mt. Hall and Valley View schools, helping with earth projects for the city's Myrtle Creek water system, helped in construction of the boat landing approach area in Bonners Ferry, worked on a race track at the fairgrounds, and helped out with many other local area projects over those beginning years for Boundary County's unit of the Idaho National Guard.
It was around 1956 that efforts were first directed toward construction of a new armory in Bonners Ferry. After two years, bids were requested, a Moscow, Idaho company was selected for the construction, and In mid 1958 construction of the armory began on county property at its current site on the South Hill.
But a big problem arose a couple of months into construction of the new building. Word was received that plans were being considered at the state level to deactivate Bonners Ferry's Company A of the 882nd Engineers.
Protests arose from the community, and citizens and their leaders contacted their congressional representatives, the governor, and National Guard leaders to state their opposition to the unit's deactivation and express their desire to continue with Company A in Boundary County.
As that particular issue continued to smolder, construction of the new armory continued. The original cinderblock building was completed in the fall of 1958, and was first occupied when National Guard personnel moved their equipment into the building on Sunday, November 15, 1958.
The original building was approximately 8,500 square feet, it's final cost around $90,000 (which would be equivalent to about $730,000 today), and was owned on a 50-50 basis by Boundary County and the State of Idaho.
Three months after Company A moved into the new armory, in February 1959, a public open house was held to let everyone see the new building and inspect the unit's equipment.
And that summer, the decision was made regarding the proposed deactivation of Bonners Ferry's National Guard unit. Bonners Ferry's Company A of the 882nd Engineers was eliminated. But the local unit was then converted to a new designation: Service Battery, 148th Field Artillery battalion, with battalion headquarters located in Lewiston, Idaho.
Information obtained from the Idaho National Guard shows that 11 years later the unit was designated as Company D, 1092 Engineering Battalion in 1970. Sometime later it became Detachment 1, C Company of the 116th Engineering Battalion. Today the Boundary County Unit of the Idaho National Guard is Detachment 1, A Company of 145th Brigade Support Battalion of the 116th Cavalry.
Currently, 23 soldiers are authorized for the Bonners Ferry Armory, but only 15 are actually assigned there.
Disposition of the Property
If and when the Bonners Ferry facility is closed, what would become of the building and property there? "There is currently a one-half state and one-half county interest in the property," said Major Borders. "It is likely that the land would go back to Boundary County and the state would negotiate with the county the disposition, sale, or transfer of the buildings on the property at a time yet to be determined."
So, to sum it all up, plans are on the table for the Bonners Ferry National Guard Armory to close. That event, however, will not become a reality until—and if—the Idaho National Guard proposal is actually accepted and funded by Congress, and even then would likely not happen for several years in the future.