Loring military work to double Grant used to hire Humvee rebuilders

AUGUSTA – A protracted deployment for American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has expanded employment opportunities at the Loring Rebuild Site in Limestone, where a work force that refurbishes military vehicles will soon nearly double in size.

Gov. John E. Baldacci and Maj. Gen. Joseph Tinkham, Adjutant General for the Maine National Guard, confirmed Thursday the Maine Military Authority will receive $22.5 million in federal funds to hire 112 new employees at the rebuilding site located at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone.

Since 1997, workers at the northern Maine facility have been refurbishing the U.S. Army’s HMMWV vehicles, better known as “Humvees,” as well as other types of military machinery, including bulldozers and heavy equipment. State officials said the current work force of 176 employees will increase to 288 within 45 days when production will jump from 660 vehicles to 1,210 annually.

“They’re going to have to add a second shift,” said Tinkham.

The new jobs are expected to have an annual salary and benefit package valued at $34,000 and will likely spur an economic ripple in a region hard-hit by job losses.

“You’re basically taking $23 million and pumping it into the local economy,” Baldacci said.

Brian Hamel, executive director of the Loring Development Authority, said the decision to expand refurbishments to more than 1,000 vehicles per year at the rebuilding site was not entirely unexpected. With Caribou native Sen. Susan Collins taking the lead on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the entire Maine congressional delegation has been involved for some time in securing more contracts for Maine.

“It is great economic news for the region because the people they are hiring are all local civilians,” he said. “These will be good-paying jobs with good benefits and they match well with the skills and education levels of our work force.”

Maine is now one of five facilities in the country refurbishing military vehicles, a practice that began during the Bosnian peacekeeping mission. At that time, it became clear that expensive equipment could be salvaged and rebuilt at a fraction of the cost of manufacturing new units. While the standard rate for military vehicle refurbishment – including labor, facility and material costs – averages about $140 per hour, Tinkham and other state officials said the Limestone facility is able to deliver the same services for about $40 an hour.

Baldacci and Hamel credited the productivity of the Aroostook County work force for the region’s successful competitive strategy. Both men believed there would be an adequate labor pool to meet new demands at the site, which is able to offer reduced facility costs as part of its conversion from military to civilian use.

“As a development authority, we have provided a real estate transaction for the Maine Military Authority that is very cost-effective for them,” Hamel said. “We have the ability to give fairly attractive real estate deals, and we have also provided the MMA with a significant amount of machinery and equipment that we negotiated to be left at the base when the Air Force departed. All those things resulted in a savings of dollars which helped create a relatively low overhead rate.”

With continued U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and dimming prospects for international reinforcements to relieve American troops in Iraq, Tinkham said the need to replenish the military fleet is not likely to diminish anytime soon.

“This batch will be replacing vehicles that are being sucked into deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said of the new Humvee order. “The facility could grow larger. The timeline for that is virtually infinite right now. But I think there will always be a demand for quality and for a bargain – and that’s what we’re able to provide the taxpayers and the military.”