Some years, the public has reason to wonder if Oak Harbor’s junket to Washington, D.C., is worth the money.

This is not one of those years.

The trips to the nation’s capital started in the early ‘90s when Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, to everyone’s surprise, ended up on the base closure list. A monumental effort by community and businesses leaders reversed that decision, and it became customary to make a trip each year to the other Washington to remind the Pentagon of our existence and the critical importance of NAS Whidbey to the nation’s security.

This year, there is more reason for concern about the base’s future than usual. There is a rumor that the Pentagon is considering moving the P3C Orion and its successor airplane, the P-8A Poseidon, to some other base. The military has more rumors than there are grains of sand at Rocky Point beach, but this one seems more widespread than most.

More serious than the patrol aircraft rumor, which if true would cut the base by roughly 2,600 personnel, is the overall budget-cutting mood in Congress and the Pentagon. Military spending isn’t the sacred cow it has been since Sept. 11, 2001. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants to cut billions over the next few years and the Navy will have to do its share to make that goal. A lot of military bases in the U.S. and around the world are in jeopardy if the spending goals are to be achieved.

Many agree in theory that military spending is too high, but only when cutting begins do we realize how much these cuts mean in the real world. Eliminating or severely reducing the role of NAS Whidbey would save only a tiny fraction of the goal, but it would mean thousands of lost jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll loss to this community.

Mayor Jim Slowik, a few council members and other community leaders will be heading to Washington, D.C. in March. This year, it’s clearly a worthwhile expense. If we don’t speak up today, we could be on the chopping block tomorrow.