A U.S. Army Reserve center on Lee Street in Vicksburg and its 28 jobs are officially among facilities targeted by a plan for realignment and closure issued this morning by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The Pentagon also recommended closing Naval Station Pascagoula and the Mississippi Army Ammunition plant in Hancock County and making minor realignments at Keesler Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Meridian, Key Field Air Guard Station in Meridian and a Human Resources Center.

“Given the scope of cuts contained in these recommendations, I am pleased to report that the state of Mississippi fared very well,” said U.S. Sen Thad Cochran, R-Miss., the state’s senior delegate to Congress.

Naval Station Pascagoula could lose 844 active duty military personnel, 112 civilian workers and seven contractors, if the plan is approved. The proposed plan recommends shutting down 150 military installations nationwide, including 33 major bases.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operations in Vicksburg are not mentioned.

A news release from Cochran’s office this morning said a Reserve center in Vicksburg is on the list to close.

Independently, a spokesman for 412th Engineer Command, the only other Reserve center in the city, confirmed that center on Porters Chapel Road is not on the list.

Jenny Manley, a spokesman for Cochran, said the Vicksburg facility employs about 28 people and the center’s responsibilities stand to be shifted to Alabama.

The Lee Street building has been home to a detachment of the Reserve’s 386th Transportation Company and is the smaller of the Reserve’s two operations here. The 412th, which has more than 100 jobs, is an independent command and does not report to a unit in Alabama.

An increase in personnel for the Columbus Air Force Base, and minor realignment for Keeesler Air Force Base in Biloxi and Key Field Air Guard Station near Jackson International Airport are also in the report.

Although Army Corps of Engineers installations were not on the BRAC list, there were no shouts of joy.

“This is the first step in a long process,” said public affairs officer Frank Worley of the Corps’ Vicksburg District. “Like congressional legislation, it’s really not appropriate for us to comment at this time. Obviously we support better, faster, cheaper. It’s the right thing to do to make the best use of the government’s resources.”

The District, with headquarters on East Clay, has about 1,600 local employees. It reports to the Mississippi Valley Division, based downtown. The Engineering Research and Development Center is headquartered on a large campus on Halls Ferry Road and provides support services to the entire Department of Defense.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., emphasized that BRAC is an ongoing process and the list may change.

“I’m confident that our bases will again be judged as a critical component of America’s security portfolio,” Lott said. “I also note that this process is as much about realignment as it is about closure. In fact, there may be ways for Mississippi to benefit from certain changes to base missions, as we have in the past.”

Lott, who is from Pascagoula, also said he opposes the BRAC process, created by Congress to have commissions make decisions on military needs. Lott says he believes Congress remains able to make hard decisions.

Cochran, however, was pleased that Mississippi escaped the BRAC report with few cuts. Rumsfeld had initially said this BRAC round would reduce military-installation capacity by 25 percent, but that proportion was later revised downward by about half.

“The fact that so many Mississippi military installations will remain open and active is a tribute to the collaborative efforts of so many supporters at the local, state and national level,” Cochran said. This positive outcome is the culmination of a decade of work enhancing Mississippi base infrastructure and capabilities since the 1995 BRAC round.”

Nationally, the Pentagon proposed shutting about 180 military installations from Maine to Hawaii including 33 major bases. Another 29 major bases will remain open but with thousands fewer troops due to transfers and consolidations with other domestic or foreign bases.

Overall, Rumsfeld has said his plan would save $48.8 billion over 20 years while making the military more mobile and better suited for the global effort against terrorism.

The net loss would be 29,005 military and civilian jobs at domestic installations. Overall, he proposes pulling 218,570 military and civilian positions out of some U.S. bases while adding 189,565 positions to others.

The closures and downsizings would occur over six years starting in 2006.

Among the major closures were Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, which would lose more than 2,700 jobs, the Naval Station in Ingleside, Texas, costing more than 2,100 jobs, and Fort McPherson in Georgia, costing nearly 4,200 jobs.

Other major bases including the Army’s Fort Bliss in Texas, the Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Va., and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland would see gains.

Before closures or downsizings can take effect, the Defense Department’s proposal must be approved or changed by a federal base closing commission by Sept. 8, and then agreed to by Congress and President Bush, in a process that will run into the fall.

In four previous rounds of closures starting in 1988, commissions have accepted 85 percent of bases the Pentagon recommended for closure or consolidation. However, the current commission’s chairman, Anthony Principi, has promised not to rubber stamp Rumsfeld’s list.

New England took a major hit, and Connecticut suffered the biggest loss in terms of jobs with the proposed closure of the Submarine Base in New London, Conn. Shuttering the installation would result in the loss of 7,096 military jobs and 952 civilian jobs.

Closures in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 eliminated or realigned 451 installations, including 97 major ones, resulted in a net savings to the government of about $18 billion through 2001. The Pentagon projects recurring annual savings of $7.3 billion from those four rounds combined.