Mr. SHEPPARD. Have you any questions on this, Mr. Jonas? Mr. JONAS. You have to have a brig, I guess. Mr. SHEPPARD. Admiral Peltier, I want this A. & E. information that I asked you for inserted after each one of these projects. So just supply that automatically. Admiral PELTIER. This one was done by the public works department at the station. It is very minor work. Mr. JONAS. No questions. FLEET FIELD SUPPORT STATIONS Mr. SHEPPARD. We shall next take up fleet fleld support stations. Insert summary pages 5 and 6. (The pages follow:) Weapons facilities, field support stations, inside the United States Installation and line item Proposed Fiscal year funding authorization Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine: Survival, escape, and evasion training facility. Naval Air Station, Cecil Field, Fla.: Full pressure suit facility. Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Fallon, Nev.: Sewage treatment plant.. Water supply system... Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Va.: Improvements (electrical) to maintenance shops Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, Calif.: Offshore tactical control facility Naval Air Station, Oceana, Va.: Improvements (electrical) to maintenance hangar Subtotal, weapons facilities, field support stations, inside the United Unclassified items. Total. Admiral JOHNSON. The second group of projects in this facilities class, field support stations, includes 13 line items at 8 activities in the amount of $6,643,000. One of the items, for $646,000 is classified. All of these stations are naval air activities which provide direct support to the operating forces of the Navy. NAVAL AIR STATION, BRUNSWICK, MAINE Mr. SHEPPARD. The first project is Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine. Insert page 32. The preliminary engineering for this item was prepared by the district public works officer, 1st naval district, and is complete. The final plans and specifications have been authorized and will be prepared by Wright & Pierce, Engineers, Topham, Maine, and will be completed by August 1, 1961. Fee is being negotiated. (The following was submitted for the record :) NAVAL AIR STATION, BRUNSWICK, MAINE, $211,000-SURVIVAL, ESCAPE AND EVASION TRAINING FACILITY The first project is outlined on page 32 of the program book. It is at the Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine, for construction of a survival, escape, and evasion facility at the estimated cost of $211,000. This facility is required for the prac. tical training of personnel to survive in unfriendly or unknown country, and to live off the land; to teach them methods of escaping after capture by an enemy, and to evade recapture or, if captured, to evade divulgence of information useful to the enemy. For greatest effectiveness the area should be large, isolated and in rugged terrain. The Korean conflict pointed up the disastrous consequences suffered by Allied prisoners-of-war, due, in large part, to the lack of training in these arts. Under this project, the necessary land area and minimal facilities will be provided. The course is intended to give the trainees the necessary knowledge and confidence they need to survive under extreme conditions, and a realistic experience of what they may encounter in a POW compound. The facility will be in operation the year round, but the course itself, will be of 1 week's duration. It will be used to train all aircrews of the Atlantic Fleet prior to their overseas deployment. Mr. SHEPPARD. In the past several years we have seen a reduction in the military construction requirement in Brunswick, supposedly because of a change in mission. Now I notice the desire to build the station up again. Just where does Brunswick fit into the Naval Shore Establishment picture? Admiral JOHNSON. I would like to take the first part of that question, Mr. Chairman. Actually this line item refers to a 30-square mile wooded area about 77 miles northwest of the Naval Air Station, Brunswick. Admiral Shinn can amplify on the mission and continuing use of Brunswick. Admiral SHINN. The Naval Air Station at Brunswick, Maine, is our major northeastern patrol plane and antisubmarine base. We see no prospect for change in that employment in the foreseeable future. We do not have any request for construction at Brunswick itself. As Admiral Johnson pointed out, the request this year is for construction of a survival, escape, and evasion training facility in the vicinity of Brunswick on some leased land, some old timberland. This facility will provide training for pilots all up and down the Atlantic coast and elsewhere in the country, and is not associated directly with Brunswick, sir. Mr. SHEPPARD. What is the status of the land acquisition involved in the program at the present time? Admiral JOHNSON. We have been assured we can obtain this land at a lease of $1 per year. I think it is a 5-year lease. Mr. TIENCKEN. It is a 5-year lease at $2,000 per year. The lease has been negotiated and the lawyers are now transferring it back for execution. Mr. SHEPPARD. What facilities exist for survival, escape, and evasion training in the Navy or in the Air Force or Army? Has that been checked out, gentlemen? Admiral JOHNSON. Yes. I have something for the record that I can insert, Mr. Chairman, or I can Mr. SHEPPARD. Insert the basic information in the record, but give us now the highlight of it. (The information requested follows:) SURVIVAL, ESCAPE, AND EVASION TRAINING FACILITY The aftermath of World War II and the Korean conflict pointed up the disas trous consequences suffered by prisoners of war due to the lack of basic training in the science of survival, escape, and evasion. Navy needs two facilities because of high transportation cost and time away from unit for personnel on the opposite coast. This is only a 5-day course. Not feasible to use Air Force, Army, or Marine facilities for following reasons: (a) Air Force. -Camp is located near Stead AFB, Calif. Travel cost, TAD expense, and time away from unit makes very costly. Air Force has 3-week course which Navy feels is too long for purpose. Injection of 5-day Navy course each week into Air Force curriculum would be costly and additional manpower would be required. (b) Army. Fort Bragg established in 1953. Due to progressive reduction in the amount of area available, less than 40 percent of the original area is still available. Difficulties in time has made it impossible in the past to train a sufficient number of naval personnel. As a result, in 1959 the naval exercises at Fort Bragg were terminated. (c) Marines. -Training at Cold Weather Training Center, Bridgeport, Calif. Classes run for 12-day period. Current rate is 385 to 400 men per year. Maximum rate is 600 per year. This would permit the Navy only 200 per year. Brunswick, Maine, facility will require approximately 90 men to operate and the yearly input will be about 1,800 men. Admiral JOHNSON. The Navy has one other survival facility, and that is at North Island, San Diego, Calif. That is for the Pacific and west coast. This will be the Navy's second, if it is approved. The Air Force has one camp, and it is located at Stead Air Force Base in California. The Army has a camp which was established at Fort Bragg in 1953. They have reduced their original area by 40 percent. They were unable then to take care of the training of naval personnel which was previously done there. As a result, in 1959 the Navy withdrew from the Fort Bragg training. The Marines have a cold weather training center which they also use for survival, escape, and evasion, at Bridgeport, Calif. This would permit the Navy only 200 men per year due to its limited capability. Mr. SHEPPARD. Where are you doing it now? 708110-61-pt. 1-4 Admiral JOHNSON. At North Island in California, San Diego, sir; and on the east coast now can you answer for that, Admiral Shinn? Admiral SHINN. It is not being done, Mr. Chairman. It ought to be done. It is being done in a minor way at some places. This will provide a solid program for survival, escape, and evasion training. Mr. SHEPPARD. What has developed here which has created this requirement? In other words, gentlemen, here is a facility you are taking up, and even with your justification it leaves a question in my mind. You have been getting along, as far as we know, in the past, Past, and there has been no complaint about the available facilities. Now you want to go in and start developing. It is a comparatively minor thing, but you want to do it. There must be some reason for it aside from the fact that you would like it. What is the requirement? Admiral JOHNSON. There is an overall Department of Defense requirement, Mr. Chairman, as you probably know, to indoctrinate our military servicemen in the proper behavior and in certain actions which will enable them to survive and conduct themselves properly in unfriendly countries, particularly if they are captured. This stems, of course, from the Presidential directive that this training be done. Mr. SHEPPARD. The Presidential directive said the training should be done, but it did not select locations by direction or even by remote suggestion. That is left to the determination of the Department itself, in this instance the Navy. Is that not true? Admiral JOHNSON. For our own personnel, yes, sir. At present our policy is to conduct this type of training which this facility will permit, for our airmen who are being deployed to overseas areas. They have some chance then of requiring this type of indoctrination. Mr. JONAS. Will you yield on that point, Mr. Chairman, before you go to another one? Mr. SHEPPARD. Surely. Mr. JONAS. Is there anything about this type of training that requires or makes desirable a facility out in a remote section of the country? Could it be better done in a schoolroom somewhere? What use would you make of the physical characteristics of the remote area? Admiral JOHNSON. This is unusual training. They have an aggressor force who are permanently based at this rugged, wooded facility. They actually go out and try to capture these trainees, bring them in to the stockade, and actually go through what we think is about the same type of treatment Mr. JONAS. It is practical training, then, instead of theoretical. Admiral JOHNSON. Yes, sir. |