It could take days, weeks or months to learn if the Rock Island Arsenal will need to cut jobs.
That's as the Army announces plans to downsize by 40,000 troops and 17,000 civilians over the next two years.
Thursday's change of command ceremony symbolizes Army moves.
Incoming Brigadier General Stephen Farmen is waiting for any word about the Arsenal's workforce.
"We'll go through the process of determining if there's any impact here," he said. "But there's no real indications that there's any real impact at this point in time."
At the Arsenal's Joint Munitions Command, BG Farmen will head a local staff of more than 700 civilians and about a half-dozen troops.
With its Arsenal headquarters, the JMC reaches out to 14 installations that cover 12,000 employees.
That's where downsizing could really cause concerns.
"All those things place enormous challenges on our ability to maintain our readiness and insure we don't have a hollow force," he said.
For the time being, no news is good news at the Rock Island Arsenal. It's a resilient, historical location that already knows about doing more with less.
While a $96-million deal to retrofit Humvees into ambulances will save factory jobs, the factory lost about 600 jobs in recent years. It now has a workforce of about 1,100 in the factory.
The Arsenal employs some 6,000 civilians and 900 troops at this time.
Sen. Joni Ernst, (R) Iowa, a veteran herself, worries about the impact of downsizing on national security.
"I think this impacts how we're able to respond as a nation to outside threats, whether it might be ISIS or any other radical or terrorist organization," she said.
It all pinpoints to the Arsenal's ability to sell itself during challenging times.
"This is the touchpoint," said BG Farmen. "This is where it all gets centrally managed and controlled, so it doesn't get more important than that."
At the Rock Island Arsenal, a plea for strength while the Army downsizes.