It’s still known as the Army Nike base, even though the government deactivated the Arlington Heights missile site near Kirchoff and Central Roads 20 years ago.
After the missiles departed in 1974, the park district got 90 acres of the 130-acre site and turned it into the Arlington Lakes Golf Club.
That left a 40-acre base for the Army’s 85th Division (Training), the 305th Psychological Operations Battalion and the 12th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
This week the 650 reservists and active members of the Green Beret unit got word that their unit likely will be merged with another next summer under a Pentagon plan to shrink and restructure the Army’s reserve force.
“It’s not a base closing,” said Lt. Col. Ted Drier, deputy commander of the local group. “The Defense Department just has decided to put all the special forces units in the National Guard.”
He was critical of the decision.
“People in Washington would like you to believe it’s real simple,” Drier said.
But folding the Army’s 12th into the 19th Special Forces Group of the National Guard will not be simple for local reservists, according to Drier.
“You just don’t join the 19th, where the closest base is West Virginia,” he said. “It’s hardly an option. A lot of the 12th will be simply lost.”
U.S. Rep. Philip Crane (R-Ill.), who 20 years ago helped the Arlington Heights Park District get part of the base land, also said he dislikes the decision.
In a letter drafted with U.S. Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) to Assistant Secretary of State Deborah Lee, he protested the military’s action.
“This particular change is inconsistent with the goals of a cost-efficient and effective defense,” the letter said.
“In order to bring the . . . National Guard Unit to the same level of readiness, millions of taxpayer dollars would have to be spent. . . . It flies in the face of simple common sense to replace a well-trained unit with one that will need significant training and equipment upgrades,” the letter said.
The congressmen asked for reconsideration of the decision to deactivate the 12th.
Though the special forces change does not mean the Arlington Heights base will close, park district and village officials have trained their sights on the property in case it is someday available.
“We certainly would like to look at and study the possibilities,” said Village President Arlene Mulder. “I know our planning department has some proposals.”
But David Hulseberg, an economic planner for the village, said analysts do not believe the property, zoned as recently as 1993 for single-family residential buildings, will become available in the near future.
“When it does, we’d have to amend our zoning and planning map, probably to what would be in the best interests of the village,” he said.
Gerald Oakes, executive director of the park district, said he writes to government officials in Washington about the land every other year.
“We would like it if it becomes available,” he said.
