Sen. Claire McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met recently with local leaders representing the Waynesville and St. Robert communities to discuss the strengths of Fort Leonard Wood as the Army plans for troop reductions across the service.
“Fort Leonard Wood is a vital resource to its surrounding communities, to Missouri, and to the United States military,” said McCaskill, the daughter of a World War II veteran Bill McCaskill, a Houston native. “It was great to meet with community leaders to get an on-the-ground understanding of how potential Army force structure changes could impact their lives and the state of Missouri.”
McCaskill and Sen. Roy Blunt recently sent a letter to U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh expressing their concerns surrounding potential plans to reconfigure the Army’s Brigade Combat Teams. The Missouri senators — who serve together as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee — stressed in the letter that the current co-stationing of U.S. Forces Command units with Fort Leonard Wood’s Training and Doctrine Command schools benefits the Army and increases the units’ combat effectiveness.
In 2012, the Pentagon requested a new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) that could have affected Missouri’s military installations, including Fort Leonard Wood. McCaskill led the fight to reject another BRAC round after Pentagon officials failed to make a convincing case that another round of base closures would benefit American taxpayers or national security.
McCaskill is the founding member of the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus and was a leading advocate for the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which provides tax credits to employers that hire veterans, extends education benefits to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and takes steps to help veterans translate their military experience into relevant skills sought by civilian employers.
Last year, McCaskill led a Senate hearing to examine progress made by government contractors in the hiring of military veterans. McCaskill also supported and helped pass legislation to ensure that the military training received by the nation’s veterans is considered and valued when those veterans seek employment opportunities.