Regional military by the numbers

No matter how you eye-ball it, whether through the value of Gulf Coast Region military base infrastructures, business-awarded contracts or critical missions, the military bases are a multibillion-dollar recurring asset. The Gulf Coast is one of the most military friendly regions in America, where the roar of jets and space-engines or distant rumblings of exploded munitions, it is the sound of freedom. According to the Department of Defense Base Structure Report FY-18 [https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/BSI/Base%20Structure%20Report%20FY18.pdf.], a summary of the military’s real property inventory, there are a myriad of DoD properties in the corridor between New Orleans and Panama City, Fla., and north into Mississippi. It includes at bases and associated annexes with a combined replacement value of more than $25B. Of that, the aviation-focused bases had a combined replacement value of more than $21.9B - add more than $1B when talking about outlying fields and other aviation-related annexes. The bases account for a large amount of incoming dollars through active and retiree payrolls, as well the contracts awarded to local companies for work here and elsewhere. Mississippi has 99 military sites – and Louisiana 35 - representing all branches of the military and guard. DoD sites in Mississippi total 176,745 acres, with a replacement value of $8.4B not counting NASA’s Stennis Space Center. NAS Meridian has a Total Plant Replacement Value (PRV) of $845M; CBC Gulfport’s PRV $1.38B; Keesler AFB PRV: $2.14B; Camp Shelby PRV: $1.42B; Combat Readiness Training Center PRV: $152.5M; and Columbus AFB PRV: 1,081.9B. Naval Air Station JRB New Orleans PRV: $1.26B. (Source: Gulf Coast Reporters League 12/17/19) http://www.gulfcoastaerospacecorridor.com/gulfcoastaerospacecorridorbook2019.html