U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

December 10, 2007

CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-228-3630
Cody Wertz 303-350-0032

Senator Salazar Urges Army to Consider Fort Carson for Additional Brigade

WASHIGNTON, DC - As part of his continuing efforts to support our Nation’s and Colorado’s military installations, United States Senator Ken Salazar today wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, asking the Army to consider Fort Carson as a home to an additional brigade. The letter coincides with the Army finalizing its plans to increase its brigade combat teams for the coming years. Senator Salazar believes that Fort Carson has sufficient capacity and ample facilities, ranges and training acreage to provide superior training for its soldiers.

In his letter Senator Salazar highlighted how the Pikes Peak region continues to “provide our soldiers and families with a terrific quality of life, a wide range of opportunities and a community with a long history of support for our men and women in uniform.” Senator Salazar also maintained that Fort Carson has the capacity to host an additional brigade as it “has grown considerably over the past few years but is well suited to host additional units and missions.”

In addition to addressing the quality of life the Pikes Peak region provides to military families, Senator Salazar also highlighted Fort Carson as “one of the Army’s premier training locations” addressing the substantial 305,000 acres of training and maneuver space at Fort Carson and Pinon Canyon, which is far more land per brigade than most similar installations.

In the letter, Senator Salazar addresses the Army’s stated desire to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site at Fort Carson. Senator Salazar has sought to require the Army to justify that expansion, but stresses that “it appears that Fort Carson is, with existing resources, better able than other Army installations to support the training needs of another brigade.” Senator Salazar believes that Fort Carson has ample space to house an additional brigade complex.

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