MCENTIRE AIR NATIONAL GUARD STATION--Standing in front of one of South Carolina's jet fighters, Gov. Mark Sanford said Monday he was appointing both a task force and an advisory committee to help defend the state's military bases from the next round of base closures.

LOU KRASKY/AP Gov. Mark Sanford and S.C. Adjutant General Stan Spears announce the creation of the Governor's Military Base Advisory Committee Monday at McEntire Air National Guard Station near Eastover.

The two groups are heavy on experience, including five retired military generals, but are light on cash. No money has been appropriated to help save the state's bases, although Sanford said: "I think we could come up with $200,000 to $400,000 out of a $5 billion (annual) budget if necessary."

At issue is the future of the Army's Fort Jackson, the Air Force bases at Charleston and Sumter, the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, two Marine Corps bases in Beaufort and the National Guard's McEntire air station, about 20 miles southeast of Columbia.

The bases mean about $4.3 billion annually to the state's economy, Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said, although that figure could be low. Last week, a spokeswoman for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce estimated the military each year pumps $2 billion into the tri-county's economy alone.

The selection of senior military retirees to help save the state's bases "reflects the phenomenal military retirees we have in South Carolina," Sanford said. None of the retirees will be paid for their work.

Congress last year agreed to let the Pentagon conduct a round of base closures in 2005 that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has suggested could be as Draconianas the four previous rounds together. All military bases in the United States would go under the microscope equally.

The process known as base realignments and closures, or BRAC, placed Myrtle Beach Air Force Base under the ax in 1991 and the Charleston Naval Base and shipyard two years later.

Attempts also were made to close the Charleston Naval Hospital and the Navy's high-tech engineering unit that later became the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station. An independent commission that oversees BRAC voted to keep those facilities open, at least until the next round of closures.

Sanford announced retired Air Force Maj. Gen. James L. Gardner Jr. of Hanahan as chairman of the governor's advisory committee and co-chairman, along with S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, of the task force.

The advisory committee also includes retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik of Mount Pleasant, retired Marine Gen. George B. Crist of Beaufort, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Olsen of Sumter and retired S.C. Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Charles L. Blount of Columbia.

The task force will rely heavily on the state's political and business leaders, especially those in communities that host military bases. It will include Maj. Gen. Stan Spears, the adjutant general, and top officials in the state Commerce Department, the state Department of Veterans Affairs and the state Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber of Commerce CEOs in Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia and Sumter will be part of the task force, along with heads of county councils in Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Richland and Sumter counties. The mayors of Beaufort, Charleston, North Charleston, Columbia and Sumter are included, along with a state senator and a state representative to be appointed by Sanford.

Sanford also promised that the advisory committee would coordinate closely with a six-member panel of legislators, appointed last month by House Speaker David Wilkins to keep a close eye on the base closures issue.

"We should use the resources we have," Sanford said. "The traditional approach for a BRAC committee is we could go to Washington, hire a bunch of consultants and say we hope you guys do a good job. I think what we can do, along with Gen. Spears, is lead an effort, in conjunction with these retired military leaders that will pay phenomenal dividends in protecting the bases in South Carolina."

Sanford introduced the panel, then added that if the retired officers concluded, "We need X number of dollars to hire X number of consultants in Washington, then I will go that route."

Later, he said the state could come up with $200,000 to $400,000 if that's what's needed to save the bases.

Rumsfeld, in recent Pentagon briefings, has stressed that "jointness," where two or more services operate side-by-side on a base, can help keep a base open. That notion could spell trouble for McEntire, which flies the same kind of fighter jets as the active-duty Air Force at Shaw, but is barely 15 miles away. Pentagon planners could decide the Air Guard should close McEntire and move to Shaw, but Air Guard officers said that wouldn't save taxpayers any money.

McEntire has an ideal training environment, Olsen said, suggesting the advisory panel might look outside the state for National Guard missions that could be transferred to South Carolina.

The Defense Department "is the single largest employer in South Carolina," Blount added. "We have an overwhelming amount of federal dollars coming in here, in part because we can be operational all year round."

Terry Joyce covers the military. Contact him at 745-5857 or at joyce@postandcourier.com.