Move in day for BRAC transfers at Aberdeen Proving Ground

ABERDEEN, Md. - With moving trucks descending upon the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the army base more resembled move in day on a college campus.

"I lived in New Jersey all my life so after 50-some years to up and move to a new state was big. I left family. I left friends," said JoAnn Dunn, a transfer from Fort Monmouth.

In C-COM’s new massive headquarters on the post, the Army has amassed a team, which will develop some of the most cutting edge communications and electronics technology in the world.

But first, it had to sell them on moving here.

"We have Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. We have Delaware, Pennsylvania... so we're right in the middle of everything," said Tanya Lewis, the wife of a transfer from Fort Benning, Georgia.

"You know people are really coming around over the years when BRAC was first announced,” said Jared Craig, a Westminster native who is returning home from New Jersey, “It's definitely changed. The morale has definitely changed."

Of the 1800 “early movers”, as they’re called, who have already relocated from Fort Monmouth and bases across the country, 80% have chosen to live in Harford County.

Spin-off companies and jobs have followed suit.

"We've moved in about 38 companies so far---brand new defense contractors... 23 of them in the last six months," said Denise Carnaggio, the deputy director of Harford County’s Office of Economic Development.

The county has faced stiff competition from surrounding states and counties in its bid to attract new residents, but its ambitious efforts have apparently paid off.

"What Harford County did for us, they put together a package very early on," said Chuck Van Zee, another Fort Monmouth transfer.

"The community college offered me a job as a teacher outside of working for the Army,” added Dunn, “I've gotten involved in my community."

"We're very excited about today. It's a special day,” said Carnaggio, “We're starting to see the major moves from the Fort Monmouth area to the Aberdeen Proving Ground. So, it'll be a steady stream from here on out."

We’re told, historically, only 25% of the workers from a base that’s closing as part of a realignment move on to the new one.

Because of the economy, it appears almost 60% of the people that worked at Fort Monmouth will relocate here.