This from The News Tribune: The merger brings together Pierce County's largest and third-largest employers - the Army and Air Force. In 2008, they had a combined civilian and military payroll of $2.3 billion.

The union is intended to help the Defense Department save money by taking advantage of efficiencies it can achieve by streamlining some services, such as police, fire, security and family support. It's not clear how much, and estimates of those savings have been falling since the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission first recommended joint bases in 2005. Twenty-six Army, Navy and Air Force installations were ordered to merge into joint bases.