The Alabama National Guard is planning to vacate 13 state armories including its facility in Hartselle by the end of September 2012 in order to save as much as $7 million.

In addition to Hartselle, armories in Georgiana, Greenville, Grove Hill, Heflin, Linden, Lineville, Millport, Moulton, Ozark, Thomasville, Union Springs and Wetumpka will be vacated in this fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2012. Specific dates for each armory have not been determined due to various unit mission conditions.

Lt. Col. Nicky Medley, Alabama National Guard mobilization readiness officer, said many of the Alabama Guard’s facilities are aging.

“Alabama must maintain its share of trained, deployable soldiers in order to avoid losing units to other states,” Medley said in a statement.

Maj. Gen. Perry G. Smith, Alabama National Guard adjutant general, said numerous factors including unit readiness, age and condition of facilities, location of units in relation to their headquarters, ability to respond statewide to disasters and cost analysis were considered before a decision was made.

“This was a very complex process and we didn’t take the decisions lightly,” continued Smith. “We wanted to ensure that we gave our soldiers the best facilities and placed them in the right locations to provide the citizens of Alabama the best support in time of disaster.”

The Alabama Army National Guard is currently the sixth largest guard in the nation and is first per capita with more than 11,000 soldiers. Approximately 59 percent of national guard facilities are more than 30 years old. This will increase to approximately 72 percent by 2016.

These changes do not reflect a decrease in force structure; no units will be eliminated. All units will be moved to other, better facilities, often closer to their higher headquarters unit.

“We made sure to consider the communities whose armories will be vacated,” said Smith. “There are old armories across the state being used as churches, community centers, etc. We hope that communities will capitalize on these opportunities and use these facilities for good.”