Army Quietly Maneuvers for Massive Colorado Training Site

The Cheyenne fought so will we make no mistake our land is all we have and we will fight to keep it

Colorado Independent CattleGrower's Association Secretary The Army and The Nature Conservancy have become partners and are planning to take this huge "land grab" as a military taking, when in reality it is really an environmental land and water grab!  The first two years of the proposed expansion do nothing more than set up buffer zones along the waterways.  TNC wants this area and has for many years.  So, what better way to get it by letting the Army do the taking and they sit back and watch.  TNC has memorandum of understandings with most govt. agencies and are sitting back waiting for it all to come true.  TNC is a billion dollar "land grabbing leach" that not only wants to own all the water and land, it must also have control of them.  The Dept. of Defense doesn't need more land as they already have 25 million acres.  Our country cannot afford this taking of private property.  The rural counties cannot afford to lose the tax base either.  I hope that our politicians wake up before it is too late.

Colorado Democrats Oppose Fort Carson Expansion At its State Assembly the Colorado Democratic Party unanimously opposed the expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuvering Site. This land grab of towns, legacy ranches, and the fragile Commanche National Grasslands is also opposed by State Senate Candidate James Bowen of Boyero, too.

A guess as to what the Army wants... If they are looking to expand Pinion Canyon that greatly, 2.5 million acres is nearly 4000 square miles, it could mean that they want to create another National Training Center (NTC).  The current NTC at Ft. Irwin, California has a maneuver area of roughly 1000 square miles. 

Having or moving the NTC to Pinion Canyon has two upsides that I can see for the Army, location and exercise potential.  Locating a large training area south of Ft. Carson would make it much more convenient and cost effective to send units there to train.  The majority of Armor and mechanized infantry units stationed in the US are located at Ft. Hood Texas, Ft. Riley Kansas, Ft. Carson Colorado and Ft. Bliss Texas.  Obviously, it would be cheaper and more convenient to have these units train in southern Colorado than to send them to California.  A second advantage that an expanded Pinion Canyon would have is an enlarged maneuver area.  An area of 4000 square miles would enable the Army to have multiple brigades involved in a training cycle at the same time.  This could be a large benefit in an era when units are expected to maintain readiness but have less and less time between deployment cycles.