Town Hall Meeting Published Feb. 9, 2007 By 1st Lt. Lisa Ferguson 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Pope's Town Hall meeting Feb. 1, outlined a more detailed BRAC timeline, as well as an update on Pope's housing privatization plans. Lt. Col. Pat Frost, chief of the 43rd Airlift Wing BRAC office, briefed the latest information on what Pope is expected to look like after BRAC takes place. "An (Air Mobility Command) group will be established in FY08," Colonel Frost said. "The group will include a medical squadron, seeing active duty only, a logistics squadron, an en route maintenance squadron and an aerial port squadron. There will also be an associate C-130 squadron and an (aeromedical evacuation squadron)." According to Colonel Frost, the Air Force would like to transfer Pope's property to the Army in FY09, although that still has to be coordinated with Fort Bragg. The 440th Airlift Wing will stand up its flag in May, and the C-130Hs are expected to begin arriving in August, the colonel said. Another hot topic that received many questions from residents was Pope's housing privatization plans. According to Picerne, the company contracted to renovate and rebuild base housing, plans are for those operations to begin in May, although that date may slip to June. According to Col. Timothy Zadalis, 43rd Airlift Wing Commander, no one will be forced out of their homes during the process. "Our plan is to renovate the houses as they become vacant and people PCS," he said. Picerne has been rebuilding and renovating houses on Fort Bragg for four years, and answered several questions about the differences between current housing issues and privatized housing issues. Questions and answers included: - Residents will sign 12-month leases. - Residents will not be billed for maintenance calls, unless it's unreasonable damage. - If you opt to move off base instead of signing a lease with Picerne, you can do so at the government's expense. - In return for living in privatized houses, Picerne will be given 100 percent of the standard Basic Allowance for Housing. Details are slightly different for dual military members, and residents can contact Pope housing office or Picerne for those details. Colonel Zadalis acknowledged there are many questions left unanswered concerning BRAC and housing privatization, but that all senior leaders on base are working to get the answers out as soon as they have the information. "I know we owe you all a lot more about BRAC and privatization," he said. "We're working to get that to you as soon as we can."