Communities Bid Guard Armories Farewell
More than 100 armories have closed or been targeted in the past five years.
June 9, 2010 -- New Castle, Ind., Mayor Jim Small was stunned by the announcement in May that the Indiana National Guard would close its armory in his town of about 18,000 after having a presence there since 1938.
"They've gone to war from there, and they've been here when the community needed help," he said. "It's sad. We're a very patriotic community, and this hurts."
The closing of the small, aging facility and many like it across the USA is the result of shifting demographics, tight state budgets and changes in the way America's citizen soldiers are being trained and deployed, says Sgt. Katherine Perez, a National Guard public affairs officer.
More than 100 armories nationwide have closed or been targeted for closing in the past five years — many in smaller communities — and more are closing this year, USA TODAY research found. Some are being replaced by larger joint Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Air National Guard Readiness Centers.
In Indiana, two additional armories — in Delphi and Tell City— will close by year's end. Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard, said the state unit is building two Readiness Centers in the Indianapolis area.
Among other state plans:
• In Kansas, 18 of 56 armories will close this year. A Readiness Center is planned for Wichita in 2011.
• Oklahoma has closed 40 since 2006 and plans to close at least 10 more over the next two years. It has seven Readiness Centers under construction.
• Oregon plans to shut down two by the end of 2011 and is building one Readiness Center.
• Louisiana is closing four and building two Readiness Centers.
• New York has closed or announced plans to close 11. It has built one Readiness Center, has a second under construction and is looking for a site for a third.
"As great as those armories have been and as hard as it is to leave those communities, it just doesn't make sense to keep them open," said Sgt. Leslie Newport, spokesman for the Indiana National Guard. "Its more than cost-cutting. We are doing a layer of teaching that is above what we have had."
The closings come as the Army and Air National Guard combined report membership is up — from 459,000 in 2000 to 470,000 in 2009.
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