Named for Gen. Thomas Sumter, the American Revolution's "Fighting Gamecock," the military is still firmly at Sumter's core, with Shaw a major component of the city's economy and identity.
And, with a massive round of base realignment and closure looming over the nation's military communities, Sumter could be the South Carolina city with the most to lose.
"There's no question, Sumter would be hit the hardest," Sumter Mayor Joseph McElveen said. "Maybe not in the total economic impact, but in the percentage and degree of impact."
McElveen isn't alone in his thinking, as some of the state's top elected officials have said Sumter has more at stake during this round of BRAC than any other community in the state.
"Positively it would be Sumter," Gov. Mark Sanford said, adding that the city doesn't have the tourism and growth opportunities of coastal cities like Beaufort and Charleston, and that could hurt its ability to rebound from such an economic blow.
"From an economic impact, in terms of impact on the local economy, Sumter is the be-all, end-all," the governor said.
McElveen estimated that when local veterans and visitors are considered, Sumter's military presence contributes nearly $1 billion to the city's economy each year.
"I think if we lost something, it would probably hurt us the most at Shaw," said Sen. Jim DeMint, who last November captured the Senate seat vacated by Ernest "Fritz" Hollings. "It's the major economic engine of the Sumter area. That would be huge."
In the early 1990s, following the first round of BRAC in 1988, Sumter brought retired Maj. Gen. Tom Olsen on board as a part-time employee working to safeguard the city against future closures. For that reason, McElveen said the city feels like it has prepared as well as possible.
"We feel pretty confident, but we're still scared," the mayor said.
During an April 2004 trip to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Sanford identified Shaw as the South Carolina base most vulnerable in the this year's BRAC round.
But with the list of closures set for publication May 16, the governor said he's hearing less talk about the Air Force base and more about another Midlands installation: the Army's Fort Jackson training facility in Columbia.
"The Army has five training centers, and there's been some very real talk of that number going down to three," Sanford said.
In the state capital, Columbia Mayor Bob Coble views the potential closure of Fort Jackson as a real possibility.
"It's a tremendous threat," Coble said of losing the base. "We are in danger. We are at risk."
Fort Jackson encompasses about 52,000 acres in Columbia and is the Army's largest and most active initial entry training center. Thirty-four percent of all soldiers and 69 percent of women entering the Army are trained at Fort Jackson.
But the base also needs about $200 million worth of renovations, and this BRAC round will be larger than the last four combined, cutting about 25 percent of the military's infrastructure and potentially about 32 percent of the Army's infrastructure.
Since closing two small bases might not equal the infrastructure of one large base, some of the nation's bigger installations, like Fort Jackson, could find themselves on the chopping block, Coble said.
"To cut 32 percent of military infrastructure is going to require closing bases that no one today would dream could be closed," the mayor said.
Fort Jackson has an annual economic impact of $3.9 billion on the Columbia area, and its closure would mean the loss of about 55,000 jobs, the mayor said.
"The job loss would be devastating, and we're doing everything we can to prevent it," he said.
Like Beaufort County's Military Enhancement Committee, Columbia has a team working to educate the public on the threat of BRAC, something Coble said is lost on most people.
"If you interviewed 10 people on the street, nine wouldn't know what you're talking about and the other would think there's no way (Fort Jackson) could close," the mayor said.
In Charleston, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Military Relations Policy Council are working to prevent a repeat of 1993's BRAC round, where Charleston Naval Shipyard was shuttered, said Mary Graham, the chamber's vice president of public policy.
The area lost 6,272 jobs following the base's final closure in March 1996 and had regained 3,386 by October 2000.
"Our efforts have been fairly busy for a little over two years, with a team of people working on the issue," Graham said.
Like the rest of the state's military communities, Charleston's BRAC group has hired lobbyists in Washington, D.C., in addition to its local efforts, she said.
"Our primary goal is educating people within the (Defense Department) about what is in Charleston and to get people to visit us," Graham said.
There are about 30 different commands in the Charleston area, with 27,000 military jobs, including active duty, reserve and civilian employees, but the biggest challenge is that many people don't realize there's still a Navy presence in the area, she said.
"There's still a large percentage of the population that doesn't even know the Navy is still here," she said. "I think people are more aware of it now than they were two years ago."
A 2002 Georgia Southern University economic impact study estimated it would take the Beaufort area 17 years to completely rebound should all three local bases close.
Without the attractive coast that Beaufort and Charleston boast, Sumter Mayor McElveen said it could take his city even longer to recover if Shaw is shuttered.
The city has applied for federal grants to explore other economic and employment options should a worst-case scenario materialize but stresses that Sumter's relationship with the Air Force base is about much more than just money.
"It's a matter of community pride as well," the mayor said. "Shaw has been here over 60 years. We consider ourselves an Air Force town."