In recent days, much community discussion has centered around the future of Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), our local military base. The draw down of active duty military is coming to fruition in the near future as the result of sequestration from U.S. Congress; substantial forced federal budget cuts are looming and there is no doubt that the military will be hit hard. The cuts could impact up to 30 posts throughout the United States.
As far as JBLM is concerned, depending upon the Army’s decision, there could be as many as 11,000 jobs lost over the span of the next five years.
The economic impact to the region would be substantial.
Recently, the Army hosted a special community “listening session” in Lakewood to give the public an opportunity to share their feedback and give testimony on the impacts such cuts would create to the affected communities.
At the Brain Energy Support Team (BEST), we are proud to support and honor local military families for the commitment, not only to our nation, but to our local communities. While we do recognize and appreciate the challenging economic impact as a result of downsizing and budget cuts, we wanted to take this opportunity to also share our deepest thanks, appreciation and pledge of support to servicemembers and their families that could potentially be affected.
It has been our experience and observation that local military families work hard in supporting their local communities and donating their time and talents to local causes they believe in. The volunteer hours, commitment and dedication that military families contribute to various nonprofits and other community entities would be sorely missed and a terrible community loss in the event of downsizing.
And speaking of loss, we know first hand what job loss means in the brain injury community; it produces stress, uncertainty and fear for the individual and their family that have to endure it. For a military family, who have already given so much, this can be an even deeper challenge to face.
BEST is proud to be a part of a community that cares and is at the ready to rally with the rest of community to provide what we can to help bolster, support and show our care and compassion to our local military families, should this situation come to fruition.
In the meantime, a profound thank you to local military families for all of your contributions that make our community a better place. YOU matter and you are all truly the BEST.
