Niagara Falls, NY (WBEN) Supporters of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Base say today's visit by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will be an opportunity to point out the positives of the base. This as the Pentagon has proposed trimming as many as 845 jobs.

John Cooper of the Niagara Military Affairs Council says there's plenty of positives to point out. "The retention and recrutiment rates are above average for the reserve command, and we have a low cost as far as our facility is concerned compared to others," says Cooper. He also looks to a 2005 COBRA anaylsis that showed it would take 32 years to recover the costs of closing the base.

Cooper also says the base's units have done a lot in the training environment, and the 10,000 foot runway the base has that shows its value as a facility.