Guard’s importance remains undimished
As the Air Guard goes, so goes St. Joseph.
This isn’t mere hyperbole. The 139th Airlift Wing has grown into a top 5 employer in St. Joseph with a $215 million economic impact in fiscal year 2024. With so much talk of job creation, it’s easy to forget the Wing’s primary mission is delivery of military and humanitarian support across the globe.
But the economic benefits are impossible to ignore. That’s why the flood of 1993 – which produced an indelible image of a C-130 plane surrounded by water – shocked the community into doing everything possible to support the Wing and solidify its future at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.
Local, state and federal officials have collaborated to strengthen levees, upgrade runways, build a new tower, and relocate critical infrastructure out of the flood zone. These investments have paid off, but news late last month brought a flood of disappointment. The Air Force selected a Wyoming Air National Guard base in Cheyenne for the C-130J Super Hercules, an upgrade to the aging fleet of C-130H aircraft.
Those same C-130H models are the workhorse of the Guard unit at Rosecrans. Last month’s announcement marks the second time the Air Force has bypassed Rosecrans for the J model, which climbs faster, flies farther at a higher cruise speed and requires less distance for take-off and landing.
Maybe the Wyoming unit made the best proposal or maybe its congressional delegation had more pull. The Wyoming Guard could make a case for the J model’s advantages in suppressing western wildfires, an angle the 139th would be less able to play.
What’s certain is that the decision doesn’t change the calculus of the 139th Airlift Wing, its importance to St. Joseph and the work that its men and women do every day. An upgrade to the J model should remain a priority for our congressional delegation.
We believe that this latest setback will one day be viewed in same light as the 1993 flood. A bad moment, but opportunity often follows disappointment.
The Clay County Royals?
When it comes to the future of the Royals and the Chiefs, St. Joseph doesn’t have a dog in that fight.
For St. Joseph, it doesn’t matter where the teams play as long as it’s somewhere in the KC metro. However, one potential site for the Royals – a location in Clay County --- offers several advantages. That site is said to be under consideration.
An MLB game in north Kansas City would shave about 20 minutes off the drive from St. Joseph compared to a trip to the Truman Sports Complex. For St. Joseph, the benefits would extend beyond gameday.
One reason St. Joseph hasn’t grown is that Kansas City is expanding in the opposite direction – to the southwest in Johnson County, Kansas. Anything that pushes KC metro development to the north will benefit St. Joseph, even in years when the Royals are in the cellar.
