AURORA | Each year, the commander at Buckley Air Force Base steps to a lectern in front of a room full of city leaders and details the goings-on at the sprawling base on the city’s eastern edge.
Typically, the “State of the Base” speech is a chance for the base’s commander to boast about the economic force Buckley has become.
This year, however, Col. Dan Dant’s speech to a conference room full of city leaders was a bit more somber. While Buckley again proved to be a major driver of the local economy, 2012 was a year marked by tragedy and hardship for the base.
First came last summer’s wildfire season — which included a blaze in Colorado Springs that came dangerously close to the Air Force Academy and displaced hundreds of families, including many military households. Teams from Buckley scrambled across the state to assist with the response, fighting fires and helping families get back on their feet.
Then, on July 20, a gunman opened fire at the Century Aurora 16 theater, killing 12 and injuring 70. The theater is just a short drive from the base, and Dant said more than 50 people with Buckley connections were there that night. Included in the dead were two enlisted men from Buckley, John Larimer and Jesse Childress.
Dant said he was consistently impressed with how the community rallied after the shootings, including efforts by the Aurora Chamber to help Larimer’s friends fly from Colorado to Illinois for his funeral.
“That, my friends, is a community in action,” he said.
Dant said the theater shooting and fires were a very trying time for Buckley. But in each case, Dant said crews from Buckley rallied together to help in any way they could. During the fires, Buckley personnel helped more than 100 displaced families. And in the aftermath of theater shooting, they fielded calls from around the world from people wanting to make sure their friends and loved ones at Buckley were safe.
“Their compassion and dedication really helped each military member, both those affected at the theater or those who knew someone who got killed or injured, recover from that event,” he said.
Lisa Buckley, chairwoman of the Aurora Chamber’s Defense Council, noted before Dant’s speech that even as the airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines at the base dealt with a trying year, they still managed to maintain their mission throughout.
“All this happened while the 460th continued to provide missile warning for us 24/7, 365,” she said.
And on the economic front, the base again pumped more than $1 billion into the local economy.
According to Dant’s figures, the base accounted for $1,025,611,274 in economic impacts last year, the ninth straight year that Buckley has topped the $1-billion mark. The bulk of that — more than $660 million — came from annual payroll to personnel there.
For several years, officials have warned that Buckley’s economic clout would diminish as construction there slowed. After the Air Force “stood up” Buckley as a full-fledged Air Force base in 2000, the military commissioned millions of dollars worth of construction projects at Buckley to equip the base with what it needed.
Now, as the base fills up and many of the necessary projects are completed, construction has slowed down. In 2011, Buckley saw $28 million in construction projects, a figure that dipped to $17 million last year.
Still, even with a steady drop in construction, Buckley’s economic impact actually grew by 1.5 percent compared to 2011.
For Dant, last week’s State of the Base speech was his last as Buckley’s commander. Typically, commanders serve two-year terms and Dant’s two years will be up this summer. His next assignment will be in Washington, D.C., and a new commander will likely take over at Buckley sometime this summer.