Air Guard breaks ground
241st Engineering Installation Squadron will train at the site
By Todd South tsouth@timesfreepress.com
Online: Watch the groundbreaking ceremony for the 241st Engineering Installation Squadron facility. Read previous stories. Comment. An $8.2 million training facility for the Tennessee Air National Guard will provide more room and opportunity to train for deployments, military officials said Tuesday. Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, adjutant general for Tennessee, called the new site a “modern facility for a unit that fights the modern battle.” The facility, on Bonny Oaks Drive, will be manned by the 241st Engineering Installation Squadron, which performs more deployments than any other unit in Tennessee, Maj. Gen. Hargett said. The 241st mobilizes small detachments of airmen to deploy alone or with other U.S. military units. They set up cabling that connects communications, computers, engineering, air traffic control and
landing systems at installations worldwide. The building, planned as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified structure, should be built and fully occupied by the 241st by fall 2010, said Capt. Marty Malone. Construction on the U.S. Army Reserve building next to the Air Guard building will begin this fall, officials said. The $12.3 million project will provide 50,000 square feet of space for local Army reserve units to train and bring 200 new Army Reserve soldiers to the site. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., told the audience Tuesday that the Air Guard facility “has been a long time coming.” He outlined efforts stretching back decades to build a new training area and headquarters for the 241st. In the current military deployment cycle, such facilities are needed, he said. “We live in a different world after Sept. 11,” Rep. Wamp said, referring to the 2001 terror attacks. The days of the “weekend warrior” are gone forever, and the National Guard and Army Reserves are the dedicated, fulltime soldiers of today, he said. After the Air Guard moves to its new facility, 10 to 13 acres of property will open next year at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. Mike Landguth, Airport Authority president, has said the space will open future development for Lovell Field. The property previously was under a 99-year lease at the cost of $1, a common arrangement for federal facilities leasing long-term space from local or state governments. Staff Photos by Angela Lewis People gather for a groundbreaking ceremony for the 241st Engineering Installation Squadron facility Tuesday.
A machine clears land before a groundbreaking ceremony for the 241st Engineering Installation Squadron facility Tuesday.
