When an active member of the U.S. Air Force is notified that she or he will be transferred to Dover Air Force Base, there is an official online site, Military OneSource, which walks them through the steps in making the transition from the base where they are currently stationed.
It also gives them two dire warnings about what to expect: “Vehicle insurance in Delaware can be expensive; be sure to research rates in advance so that you have sufficient funds available,” it reads. Second, “Hurricanes are a possibility in Delaware. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. New residents should become knowledgeable of hurricane preparations and safety precautions.”
What it does not tell these new arrivals is that the local community will welcome them with open arms, a valued member of one of the biggest economic engines in the state and one that is essential to the bottom lines of local businesses from corner delis to large construction companies.
The numbers alone tell an impressive story — without a doubt, the Dover Air Force Base is a crucial contributor to the economies of the city of Dover, Kent County and Delaware as a whole. It’s estimated that the total economic impact on the local economy in Fiscal Year 2023 was $891 million for an estimated 8,969 jobs created.
The base has 6,096 employees — 5,457 of them military personnel and 639 civilians – for a total annual payroll in excess of $382 million. Additionally, the base supports 2,418 military dependents.
During the past fiscal year, the base had 36 construction projects valued at $186 million to local contractors.
For every weekend drill of the base’s 512th Airlift Wing — a reservist unit — 900 local hotel rooms are booked for two nights. Additionally, of the wing’s 1,800 members, more than 600 are Delaware residents.
But there is another story, the one of how through the years a thriving, symbiotic relationship between the community and the base population has grown beyond one of the simple economics of paychecks and purchases to now being one of shared services and social relationships that few military bases and civilian communities around the world can brag about.
Under the guidance of base commander Col. William McDonald, those relationships are expanding beyond the base’s immediate geographic environment.
“I’m trying to expand our reach,” he said in a recent interview with the Delaware Business Times in his office at the sprawling facility. “We realize that we have an impact across the state, so we want to be able to share our stories and to be able to give back.”
A City within a City
The huge Air Force Base has two sides, McDonald said. First, the operational side, with its gigantic planes and hangars, runways, offices and operational facilities, is located on the east side of Delaware Route 1 and physically within the city of Dover.
The residential community, with multiple blocks of military housing as well as the Dover Air Force Base Middle School, Maj. George S. Welch Elementary School, basic services and the military’s Eagle Creek Golf Course is located on the west side of Route 1. That area is outside city limits and thus in the Caesar Rodney School District.
The active units which call Dover home are the 436 Airlift Wing, the 512th Airlift Wing, Air Force Mortuary Affairs (AFMAO), Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) and the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED). The 512th Airlift Wing’s reservist unit is at Dover as well, working alongside active military personnel.
“We are the Department of Defense’s largest aerial port,” McDonald said, It is also home to a fleet of behemoth airplanes – the C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster III. This past spring construction was finished on an 84,000-square-foot, single bay, full-in fuel cell capable maintenance hangar to service them.
The operational side has many base amenities – a Burger King, Valero gas station as well as a massive EV charging station, a coffee shop, a Dover Federal Credit Union bank, officers club, a pharmacy, a limited medical facility, a large fitness club, and – of course – a commissary and base exchange, or retail store designed to look like a strip mall.
“The base exchange here isn’t as large here compared to other bases I’ve been stationed, such as North Dakota,” said Capt. Christina Camp, the base’s public affairs officer. “I suspect it’s because there is no sales tax in Delaware. A lot of people shop for everything in the city.”
Under a joint-use agreement between the U.S. Department of Defense, the Delaware River and Bay Authority and the city of Dover, there is also a Civil Air Terminal (CAT) located within the base’s eastern perimeter, allowing limited operations by civilian craft using the base’s runways, especially important to arriving NASCAR teams during race days at Dover Speedway.
In fact, the base itself is a historic extension of Dover’s first civilian airport. After the United States entered World War II in 1941, the military leased the newly opened Dover Municipal Airfield for the U.S. Army Air Corps. By Christmas of that year, the first missions – coastal patrols – were being flown from Dover.
A 7,000-foot runway was completed in August 1943 and was used for training pilots of P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. Dover was inactivated as a military base after the war but then reactivated in 1952, when it began the strategic airlift missions that continue today.
In January 1966, the 436th became the base’s host wing for its mortuary service for fallen soldiers being brought home from foreign engagements, which also continues today. During the Vietnam War photographs and video footage of the large numbers of flag-draped caskets arriving at Dover are credited with being factors in public opinion turning against the conflict.
Outreach/Inreach: Networking
“Remember that service men and women aren’t just on the base. They are part of the community, shop with us, go to school with us,” Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce President Dina Vendetti said. She’s one of the base’s staunchest community boosters.
“Each year, Col. McDonald gives us a state-of-the-base presentation. and he is also a member of our Board and comes to our meetings,” she said. “We try to connect with them if someone’s spouse on the base is looking for a job or a family looking for a home needs a realtor.”
McDonald said that attending such local meetings “allows me to know what’s going on. In some cases there might be an opportunity for us to help out. We talk a lot outside the meetings.” Dover service men and women are well-known for their extensive volunteer work in the community.
There is also an Honorary Commanders program in which local community leaders, such as Vendetti, are linked to senior officers at the base, visiting each other’s workplace to better understand what the other does.
There are also a number of joint business and social events between the base and the chamber – a “Military Affairs” reception for networking, a March golf tournament with mixed base/community foursomes and, before the COVID-19 Pandemic, there was a program – which Vendetti now wants to restart – where families in the communities hosted service personnel who couldn’t go home for the holidays.
The base also holds its community events, including an annual air show, which last year attracted an estimated 141,000 spectators, and its golf course is open to the local community to book tee times. There is also a big base involvement during NASCAR events in Dover, and the Speedway is a big contributor to the local USO and other base activities.
Although the base doesn’t pay property taxes or make any direct payments, Dover City Manager David Hugg points out the facility does contract locally for its water, electricity, sewage and other municipal services. DART has bus routes between the city and the base.
“There is a close relationship between the local volunteer fire departments and the one on the base,” Hugg said, and the base is a part of an advisory group that considers land development proposals and the construction of buildings in the area that might affect base operations.
Additionally, the base welcomes the hundreds of area veterans as well as civilian employees who retired from the base to use many of its facilities, including the very popular fitness club and its health counseling services.
“I shouldn’t brag, but the Chamber has won the Abilene Trophy given to the most-supportive base community four times,” Vendetti sums up, “the last time during the pandemic.”
Calling Delaware Home – Permanently
Each year, an estimated 200,000 members of the U.S. military retire worldwide. Many of those – perhaps dozens annually – who “muster out” at Dover, or who served previously at Dover, choose to retire in the state.
Although it’s difficult to get hard numbers, many men and women mustering out of service while at Dover like what they’ve seen while on active duty there and decide to become Delaware residents, and some local real estate agencies even have formal programs to assist service retirees.
“Our primary direct partnership with Dover AFB is via coordinating the Transition Assistance Program,” said Miranda Mal, acting director of the state’s Office of Veterans Services. “We present information to service members separating from the military about filing for benefits as part of a week-long workshop. That’s in conjunction with the base Airman and Family Readiness office, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor and others.”
While the Veterans Services program is geared to helping with paperwork, a U.S. Department of Defense program called SkillBridge was created to work with private employers to help veterans-to-be transition to the civilian workforce.
Under SkillBridge, the government continues to pay salaries of service personnel for up to the last 180 days of service while they receive training and possible job offers from a private employer. Peter Dulin, SkillBridge liaison for Delaware-based Davis Renos Home Renovations, said he has hired at least 10 veterans since joining the program in 2022.
“As a matter of fact, I’m in the SkillBridge program,” Camp said. She’s interning with the Caesar Rodney School District, training to become a junior ROTC instructor hopefully, with the district.
“We plan to stay in Delaware,” said the 39-year-old officer, who lives in Felton with her veteran husband, Andrew, and their two small children. “He’s already transitioned to an engineering job, although not through SkillBridge.”
But the Virginia native doesn’t need a realtor. “We already have a home off base in Felton, and we love our neighborhood. That’s where we plan to stay.” And she adds, “I wish more Delaware employers were in the SkillBridge program. It’s easy to sign up.”
Flying into the Future
Of course, not all transactions between the community and the base are ice cream and apple pie.
Difficult negotiations have been on-going for years to hammer out a new, long-term joint-use agreement between the city and the base to expand civilian aviation use of the base’s facilities. Commercial air service is not at the top of the list, but Dover would like additional privileges for freight flights and other business usage as well as eased notification protocols. The proposed agreement now being considered would allow up to 25,000 civilian and business takeoffs and landings annually.
At a June briefing of the Dover City Council, Hugg said he would also like to see a growing aircraft maintenance and other aviation businesses at the city side of the facility that would be an additional source of revenue and make use of the skilled workforce of veterans and civilians retiring from the base.
“I really can’t talk about it,” McDonald said. An agreement still isn’t signed.
But he would like to talk more about his program to expand community relations. The base has begun working with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, and the colonel makes it clear that he sees the whole state as the base’s home.
“We’ve also just started an Ambassadors program for community leaders who were once in the Commander’s program to continue to expand their opportunities to return to the base,” he said.
After a thought, the commander of Kent County’s largest employer base added: “And we want people to know they can use our golf course!”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misidentified Capt. Camp’s rank and misquoted information about the commissary and base exchange. We regret the error.
