BEAUFORT--Charleston Air Force Base is in better shape than any other South Carolina military installation as the state faces the next round of military base closures, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday.

"The C-17 is the backbone of the (nation's) airlift," said Graham, R-S.C.

While confident of the base's future, Graham said the Charleston area needs to guard against complacency, repeating the warning he made in December that encroachment is an issue in base closures.

BRAD NETTLES/STAFF A Charleston Bases C-17 taxi's to the runway at Charleston Air Force Base Tuesday, December 3, 2002.

"My advice to the people in Charleston is don't let that become a problem," he said.

Graham talked with leaders at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, the Parris Island Marine Recruit Depot and the Beaufort Naval Hospital as part of a round of recent visits to S.C. bases dealing with base closures. The realignment is expected to result in the closure of as many as 25 percent of the nation's military installations.

Encroachment has been a concern at Charleston Air Force Base. A portion of Wildwood subdivision along Falcon Drive in North Charleston lies inside what an air base study calls a clear zone. The study, which cites the need for safety near airfield runways, says clear zones should be devoid of any residential development.

Wildwood, however, was built in the late 1950s before clear zones became an issue.

Graham later said he was familiar with the study but was unfamiliar with a recent announcement that a Wal-Mart and a Sam's Club will be built in another area less than two miles off the end of the base's main runway. Those stores are not in the clear zone, but they would lie within an area referred to in the study as Accident Potential Zone 1.

"Surrounding communities have many needs, but I can't imagine a greater need than making sure Charleston Air Force Base works at its full potential," he said. "Any local action that undermines the use of Charleston Air Force Base to that potential is dangerous."

Other leaders, however, said they believe the base should survive despite the construction of the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, which are planned for the former Centre Pointe site at the intersection of Interstates 26 and 526.

"That (project) has been in the mill for some time," retired Air Force Maj. Gen. James Gardner of Hanahan said. "I don't think it will be a problem. The possibility of anything happening there is low. The (population) density wouldn't be as great (as) ... an apartment or a hotel."

Gardner heads an advisory committee and a task force that Gov. Mark Sanford appointed last year to deal with base closure issues in South Carolina. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Mikolajcik of Mount Pleasant is a member of the advisory committee.

"The Air Force wants to be safe," Mikolajcik said, but "the question is: Does (the project) impede the (military) mission? I don't see this as an issue. We can acknowledge that we have some encroachment, but it doesn't affect our mission."

Graham spoke in front of a display of historic jet fighters outside the Marine Corps Air Station. He was accompanied by a dozen members of the Greater Beaufort Chamber of Commerce's Military Enhancement Team, which has organized the Beaufort area's fight to keep its local bases.

Graham told the local leaders his best guess was that the Beaufort air station would be a "big winner" in the process, perhaps having more missions moved there from other bases. The tradition and can't-be-duplicated site at Parris Island gives that base security, he said.

"I will be drafted by the NBA before the Marine Corps closes Parris Island," said the 5-foot, 7-inch senator.

Graham was less optimistic about Beaufort Naval Hospital. "The medical services -- we have a fight on our hands," he said.

The state has been through this before. South Carolina lost Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in the 1991 round of base closures and the Charleston Naval Base and shipyard in 1993. Two years later, Beaufort leaders had to fight off an attempt to close the Marine Corps Air Station.

The loss of Charleston Air Force Base would be a heavy blow to the area's economy. The base, according to an annual report, pumps nearly $550 million annually into the Lowcountry and provides work for roughly 8,000 active-duty, reserve and civilian employees.

Among South Carolina bases, Graham said he was most worried about McEntire Air National Guard Station near Columbia. There is a "real effort" to move McEntire's air operations less than 20 miles away to Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter.

Graham said he thought closing McEntire would destroy the Guard's effectiveness as a separate service.

Shaw faces the same problem as other air bases, Graham said. Air wings can be moved. He was confident the variety of training at the Army's Fort Jackson in Columbia couldn't be duplicated.

Also, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station "has the same problem as everybody else: Why here and not there?" Graham said.

Weaving caution with optimism throughout his comments, Graham said, "There will be no magic wands" in this round of closures. In contrast to the 1995 closures that were part of military downsizing, this round is about getting more efficient use from the military.

"The Pentagon is deadly serious this time about closing up bases to save money. Our fate is in our hands," Graham said. "I'm worried, I'll be honest with you. I'm worried it might not turn out like we hope."

He said he was at the Beaufort base as a U.S. senator to lend his support, but he cautioned that while he supports keeping bases open in the state, he also supports the base closure process.

"If I support it, I can't say, 'You can't look in my back yard.' "

Graham said every base left in South Carolina is necessary to fighting the war against terrorism. He later said that the bases with the most to worry about are those flying older equipment or using Cold War-era equipment.

"There's so much going on down here that's almost impossible to duplicate," he said.

The Chamber of Commerce enhancement team echoed that they had fought this fight before, and "each time we fight an all-out war," Beaufort Mayor Bill Rauch said. The two bases and hospital annually pump $454 million into the area economy and are its major employers.

The group has raised $200,000 in local and state money for a $400,000 operating budget and is appealing to area businesses for the other $200,000.

"I think what (Graham) said was very accurate. (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld is really driving the train on this thing. He's insisting everything be on the up and up," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Jim Shufelt, chamber director and a member of the local enhancement team and Sanford's advisory committee.

The individual armed services will make decisions on the operations at bases. The Pentagon and secretary of defense will decide on support facilities, Shufelt said. Other states have raised more money but have more bases.

"We're confident with where we are at this moment," he said.