Big buzz in the military community over The Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which is expected to release its recommendations for base closures on Friday. One media outlet calls it the “Mother of all BRACs;” others are referring to Friday as “Black Friday.” DOD release is here.

So, which bases are on the list?

Intel blogger Spook 86 has posted a draft copy he received earlier in the year.

Rumsfeld says the cuts won’t be as deep as anticipated.

Yahoo! has an interesting feature on the spike in web searches for info about BRAC:

Here at the Buzz, we saw a cluster of searches, with “BRAC 2005″ (+346%), “BRAC” (+307%), and “BRAC list” (+295%) commandeering the most spikes. Men between the ages of 35-54 make up the majority of those searching for news on base closures – concerned enlisted men, perhaps? Here are the top states seeking base-related information at the Search box…

* Maryland
* North Dakota
* New Mexico
* Oklahoma
* South Dakota

and the top metros…

* Wichita Falls & Lawton
* Macon
* Mobile – Pensacola
* Baltimore
* Huntsville – Decatur, Fla. Ala.

More info here.

Update: Several readers note an error in the Yahoo! list.
Huntsville – Decatur is in Alabama, not Florida. And another reader notes…

Michelle, it is more likely that those 35 -54 men are civilian employees, rather than enlisted men. Enlisted service personnel serve on the basis of enlistment contracts, and a base closure simply means they will serve somewhere else. Civilian employees of the military, on the other hand, fill billets at particular bases, and if the bases go away, so do the billets.

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