The stress of uprooting lives. Reportedly, that is the real and tactical reason President Joe Biden and his Pentagon advisers chose Colorado Springs as the permanent home of Space Command.

The command has been a political football since Donald Trump, in his final days as president, ordered it moved from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala.

As it turns out, the most strategic consideration was retaining qualified and seasoned talent for the sake of immediate readiness.

When any employer moves, public or private, civilian employees ask themselves: Is this job worth moving for?

Moving means leaving behind friends, adult children and grandchildren who might live nearby. It could mean uprooting a child who is halfway through high school. It means selling a home, packing everything into a truck and finding a new home. Moving poses high-level stress on anyone.

Space Command's employees are some of the most gifted scientists and engineers in the world. The command's central role in protecting the United States' sovereignty and world peace means it must lead the world in space defense technology.

Comprising teams of the best and brightest takes time. Moving Space Command depended on a large percentage of the command's civilian staff moving with it.

Throughout the three-year conflict, Space Command heard loud and clear that much of its civilian workforce would not move. This promise had the same effect as proposing a strike.

Their families built their lives here. They have no need to move, because people working at that level have little trouble finding high-wage aerospace jobs without moving. Colorado is attracting so many aerospace firms the prospects for employment — right where they live — get better each day.

"Sixty percent of the headquarters today is civilian," said Space Command's Commanding Gen. James Dickinson. He advised Biden to keep it in the Springs.

"They're Department of the Air Force civilians doing great work for us," Kendall said during an Armed Services hearing, staged to "investigate" Biden's final basing decision. "We believe about 88% percent of those folks would probably not move...

"You have the Space Command folks, the people who are actually doing the job, wanting to stay in Colorado, that that was a balancing factor. ... Moving is a pain."

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. — the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee — agreed.

"The people at Space Command don't want to move, OK?" Smith said. "They're in Colorado Springs. They've been there. They set it up. And they don't want to move."

This should be no insult to Huntsville — a beautiful city with a river walk, a thriving arts scene and plentiful recreation opportunities. This has never been, and should never be, a contest over which city beats out another on a "best of" survey. Moving civilians from Huntsville to Colorado Springs might be just as difficult.

Bottom Line Up Front, as the military puts it, this decision avoids a large-scale personnel crisis. The government could move Space Command to an island paradise, and these civilians would likely stay put.

Given this logical and tactical explanation, it is troubling to see Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, desperately exploit his position to hold hearings on the decision with hopes of reversing it. He treats this command, essential to our sovereignty, like a political pork roast.

Rogers appears unconcerned that moving the command would waste nearly 90% of Space Command's civilian workforce and cause a yearslong learning curve before achieving readiness. He should know, any chink in our defense armor puts Alabama in peril.

Huntsville is a great city in a great state that attracts a well-educated workforce. So is Colorado Springs. By no fault of Huntsville, the proposed move threatened disruption. Staying put means stability and immediate readiness.

The Gazette Editorial Board

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

Photo credit: SpaceX at Unsplash