The Trump Administration says a new U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Command that\u2019s expected to consolidate missions from Fort Sam Houston and Fort Bragg will be located in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how many jobs San Antonio will lose in the move \u2014 early indications<\/a> were about 200. <\/p>\n The Army is in the midst of a service branch restructure<\/a> aimed at reducing inefficiencies, and San Antonio\u2019s congressional delegation put everything it had into promoting the city<\/a> for the new consolidated command. <\/p>\n Nevertheless, Breaking Defense reported<\/a> this week that the Army\u2019s Chief of Staff\u00a0Gen. Randy George\u00a0said it will be stood up in North Carolina before the end of the year \u2014 surprising members of Congress who still haven\u2019t been given the full details of the move.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the surface, it may not seem as if [the administration] listened,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio), who tried to stop the move<\/a> by putting San Antonio-specific language in a defense reauthorization bill that the Senate still hasn\u2019t taken up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there are bigger conversations that are being had as far as the overall direction of the Department of War,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf we\u2019re consolidating in one area, but we\u2019re growing in another, I think that ultimately doesn\u2019t hurt our city.\u201d<\/p>\n Local leaders have long had their sights set on courting military medicine installations, which they believe would align closely with the region\u2019s growing bioscience industry.<\/p>\n As talk of losing the Army North and Army South commands heated up, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County have been hurrying along plans to renovate an old Fort Sam hospital building<\/a> that\u2019s expected to house about 600 Defense Health Agency (DHA) employees when it\u2019s complete.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I am disappointed to hear the consolidated headquarters will relocate to North Carolina, \u2026 San Antonio is unmatched in our ability to host military missions and families, and we look forward to working with the [administration] to identify additional missions [the city] may be able to host,\u201d Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said Thursday.<\/p>\n A DHA move?<\/p>\n