After passing the Montana House by a bipartisan 74-25 vote, the Great Falls Tribune reported on Friday that HB 579, a bill to create a statewide military task force, “died in the Senate.” HB 579 is listed as “Probably Dead” on the Bill Information section of the Montana Legislature’s website.

I had written about my support for HB 579 on April 11. You can read that column HERE.

The Montana Defense Alliance (MTDA), which is a committee (that requires $300 annual membership fee) out of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce, came out against the bill. The Tribune reported that MTDA believes, “they already filled that need” of the statewide military task force.

In my opinion, that’s not entirely correct. Several people do not believe that MTDA comes close to filling “that need.” 

The Guard, Reserve, and Active duty units around the state are not there for economic reasons or to keep local businesses open. The people who make the decisions at the Pentagon do not really care if moving a mission or closing a base harms a sandwich shop in Timbuktu. These missions are there for the security and safety of our nation first.

There seems to be a split between the supporters of the military around the state. An example of that is the divide about the F-15s being replaced by C-130s. The latest example is the statewide military task force.

By not establishing a statewide military task force, it made Montana look as though they don’t really care about the future of the military in Montana. The “take my ball and go home” attitude by some may harm the state in obtaining future missions or in keeping current missions.

The world is still a very dangerous place and the United States is flat-out broke. Redundant missions will be looked at and some may be cut because our country cannot continue to support them.

A statewide task force is needed to show the decision-makers in the Department of Defense that all of Montana’s hands are on deck and united.

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