Looks like BRAC could bring good jobs for college graduates willing to move

The BRAC supplement that came in today's Aegis newspaper included a story that indicated BRAC could bring a lot of jobs for young people just out of college. In the story, Harford County's BRAC manager Karen Emery was quoted as saying:

"They're looking for college graduates with 3.0 or higher GPAs, where they would work in New Jersey for the first year or so until the mission moves to Maryland."

Aberdeen Proving Ground is expected to get 8,200 new positions as a result of BRAC. The majority of those jobs will be at the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command in Fort Monmouth, N.J. Jobs at this command are expected to be available between 2009 and 2010. Officials say it's possible that a majority of those people currently holding those jobs will decide not to move to Maryland (60 percent are eligible to retire), leaving openings for electronics engineers, management and program analysts, inventory managers, security specialists, computer engineers and logistics managers.

The story says that workers who are willing to work at the location in Fort Monmouth for awhile could possibly get their salary raised to the $80,000 level by the time they move the unit down to APG. The story says the contact person for these jobs is Kristine Ryskamp at Fort Monmouth 732-532-8963 or Kristine.Ryskamp@us.army.mil.

Some clues for BRAC news

The whole BRAC issue of who's coming to APG from Fort Monmouth, NJ, when they'll arrive and where they'll live is murky at best. But I found a source of information tidbits on a website published for those who work at Fort Monmouth. It's called The Monmouth Message and it looks like it gets posted each Friday. A series of links to articles shows up on the website each week. Not all of them are relevant to the BRAC move. But this one published on Feb. 9, provided some insights. The article titled "Community gets closure update" said that a recent survey of Fort Monmouth workers indicated that 485 of their spouses would be looking for work when they make the move to APG or Fort Belvoir, Va. The article said:

"It’s estimated that about 2.600 jobs will open by the time this fort closes and, hopefully, some spouses will fill some of those positions."

The article also said:

"Also in the works is a plan for job swapping for employees whose jobs are not transferring but who would like to transfer to APG."

Construction of new facilities at APG for the incoming workers was also discussed in the article. It said the Army Corps of Engineers had hired the firm of Ewing Cole as the architect and engineering firm for the project. And it said that a date of Sept. 30 had been set for the first construction project award to be made.

The article discussed an advance team made up of interns hired in Maryland to start working with volunteers from Fort Monmouth out of trailers and leased space at APG until the new facilities were ready. Although the article added that no money had been made available for the concept.

Harford County to get 12,712 BRAC-related jobs

A Washington Post story on Friday gave a good breakdown of the BRAC jobs that are expected to come to the region in the next few years:

Total: 45,232

Anne Arundel: 10,049

Baltimore: 3,145

Baltimore County: 3,898

Cecil: 2,602

Harford: 12,712

Howard: 2,259

Montgomery: 4,236

Prince George's: 3,463

Rest of Maryland: 2,868

SOURCE: Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development

(Click this link to read the study on the department's webpage.)

The study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, estimates the job growth will create a demand for 25,000 new homes in Maryland, and warns of strains on roads and schools.

"[Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown ] said state officials hope to develop an "action-oriented strategic plan" to deal with BRAC by mid-fall. Meanwhile, county executives representing affected areas are working to create a priority list to try to get key funding for projects. The first phase of the transfer of workers is set to begin by 2009."

Intriguing story on BRAC hires in today's Baltimore Sun

We've all heard that plenty of workers at the Fort Monmouth, N.J. military base don't want to come to Maryland when it's time to make the big BRAC move. But a story in today's Baltimore Sun reports those jobs won't go away. Instead, the Army is busy in Fort Monmouth hiring workers who will move to Aberdeen Proving Ground when the time comes. According to the story:

"A recent military survey estimating that only a small fraction of the workers at Fort Monmouth plan to follow their jobs to Aberdeen has sparked a hiring spree by the Army aimed at putting about 2,600 workers in place at the New Jersey base long before it moves to Maryland.

Those employees would 'backfill' projected losses, military officials said. The new hires - including many Marylanders - sign on with the understanding that they will start in New Jersey and move to Maryland with the base's operations.

'We are aggressively hiring from the Maryland area now,' said Sue Nappi, assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and plans at Fort Monmouth."

The story says that Aberdeen is expecting an increase of 8,200 workers at its base, with double that number to come in the form of contracting and other jobs that support the base. But they're still crunching the numbers:

"Harford is planning to award a contract for further study of the realignment's impact within the next few months and will incorporate the Army's survey into those statistics, said James C. Richardson, the county's economic development director."