Officials with Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, as well as state officials weighed in on Friday's base realignment and closure listing. Colonel Lee Buland, the base's commanding officer, says he is pleased with the announcement. Colonel Buland wouldn't comment on the recommendation to transfer 656 civilian jobs to other bases and away from Cherry Point. He says it is unclear at this point what kind of impact losing those jobs will have on the base. For now Cherry Point stands to gain 48 military jobs. The salaries at Cherry Point run about $868 million a year. The economic impact of the base on Craven County each year is about one and a half billion dollars.
