Auditor General Jack Wagner Demands Pentagon Update On Status of Kelly Support Facility's Commissary, Post Exchange.

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Auditor General Jack Wagner today demanded that the U.S. Department of Defense publicly reveal whether it plans to close the commissary, military clothing sales store and post exchange based on the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility in Oakdale.

The three facilities have been in limbo since the Base Realignment and Closure Commission announced in September 2005 that it would close the Kelly Support Facility and move its functions to the Army Reserve Center in Moon Township.

Wagner, a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran who for more than a decade represented the Pennsylvania Senate district where the Kelly Support Facility is located, said he was angry that the Pentagon had refused to divulge its plans to Western Pennsylvania military and political leaders.

"As Pennsylvania's independent fiscal watchdog, I am a vocal advocate for transparency in government," Wagner said in a letter sent last week to Dr. David S. Chu, the Defense Department's Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. "I believe the military families of Western Pennsylvania deserve a full and honest accounting of the federal government's plans for the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility and its commissary, military clothing sales store and PX."

About 167,000 retired and active military personnel and their families qualify to shop at the Kelly Facility's commissary and PX, which provide cost savings on food, furniture, clothing and house wares. Wagner said that military families need the commissary, military clothing sales store and PX services to help them stretch their paychecks and pensions - especially when a spouse is fighting in a war zone such as Afghanistan or Iraq.

"If these facilities are closed," Wagner said, "the federal government would be breaking a promise it made to provide these benefits to military families."

In his letter to Chu, Wagner said that he recently met at the Kelly Support Facility with military veterans who reported that they have seen indications that the facilities are being phased out. They said that the dining hall closed a year ago. They said the snack bar closed nine months ago, the barbershop opens only intermittently, the military clothing store has dramatically reduced inventory and is being consolidated into the PX, and Christmas items have been eliminated for the first time in decades.

They also said that sales at the PX have slid by one-third since a year ago, and that the variety of goods has been reduced. Sales at the commissary, or food store, are down 15 percent from a year ago, they reported.

"If Kelly commissary and Post Exchange are closed, it would have a devastating impact on Western Pennsylvania military families who rely on these facilities," Wagner said. "The next closest commissaries are at Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, or in Carlisle, Pa. Both are more than 150 miles from Pittsburgh - a great inconvenience to older veterans and to those with physical disabilities. Disabled veterans would be forced to relocate to maintain access to these facilities."

Wagner asked Chu to respond as soon as possible with clarification.

"Along with the Western Pennsylvania Military Affairs Council and other concerned community organizations in Western Pennsylvania, I will do all that I can to see that the commissary and post exchange services are preserved for our patriotic families living in Western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio," Wagner said.

CONTACT: Steve Halvonik, Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General, [phone]

Web site: http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/