The Army abandoned a base’s stated purpose after spending most of the construction funds

Evidence

Offering few other questions, Congress soon approved the Army’s funding request. But seven years later, in the spring of 2013, the Army made a surprising announcement. With most of the $610 million allocated for the Vicenza construction already spent, and just weeks after it had started moving into the nearly completed base, the Army said it wouldn’t be putting the entire 173rd brigade in Vicenza after all. Although consolidating the brigade in one location had been the justification for building the base in the first place, the plan was now to have two of the brigade’s six battalions stay in Germany, moving to another base there. Only about one thousand troops and an equal number of family members—roughly half what had been planned—would relocate to Vicenza. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 743

Categorization

• SEED: The justification for a $610 million base evaporated immediately after the money was spent—a clean case study for an essay on how construction funding becomes sunk cost that outlives the rationales used to secure it.