thedrifter
01-14-08, 08:56 AM
Monday, Jan 14, 2008
Posted on Mon, Jan. 14, 2008
Army Reserve to bring local facility back to life
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
TARRANT COUNTY -- Only ghosts exist beyond the heavy steel doors, the 20-inch concrete walls and the massive, combination-lock vault.
Amid a lightly rolling landscape in far western Tarrant County is a piece of Cold War history largely unknown, and certainly off limits, to most people, a weather-beaten Air Force sign and 11 massive bunkers the only clue that nuclear weapons were once stored there.
Vacant for more than a decade, this patch of once super-secret property will soon welcome back the military. Only this time, the uniforms will belong to the Army Reserve, who are not bringing back the nukes.
"We're moving fast on this project," said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Gaston, the project manager.
The project represents the beginning stages of a significant building boom for the Army Reserve in North Texas. Long based mostly around Dallas and points east, the service is increasingly moving operations to Grand Prairie, Fort Worth and Denton, where demographics and land availability look increasingly favorable.
"Interest is moving west," said Roger Manaugh, who supervises dozens of major projects in Texas and Oklahoma.
In the next few years, the Army Reserve will be closing 40-plus older or leased facilities and opening 36 new centers in Texas and Oklahoma, many of them to be jointly operated and staffed with the Army National Guard.
Some of the changes are due to decisions made by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005, and some are due to the increases in Army manpower. The Army Reserve has gained approval for 17,000 new positions because of the demands of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"These new units will be stationed in markets that are determined to be high-output markets that can support current and future growth," said Lt. Col. William Nutter, a spokesman for the Army Reserve at Fort McPherson, Ga. "The greater Dallas-Fort Worth market is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets, and the stationing of additional units reflects that growth."
In far western Tarrant County, the Army Reserve took notice of a 250-acre tract of land that the Air Force owned. The property served as a nuclear weapons storage area but has been vacant since Carswell Air Force Base closed in 1993.
The property was cleared of ordnance and declared clean by the Department of Energy, and the Army Reserve took possession last year.
The service is preparing to break ground in the coming months on a $15 million complex, including a 63,000-square-foot training building and a 14,000-square-foot maintenance building.
The reserve plans to move a chemical company, a military intelligence unit and an aviation support battalion onto the site when it is completed in late 2009 or early 2010. More than 500 soldiers will drill there in the near term, Gaston said.
"We'll have 363 pieces of equipment, either wheeled or tracked," he said.
The military plans to open new centers in Denton and Lewisville, and it continues to beef up operations at the old Naval Air Station Dallas, spending millions in the last five years on new construction and renovation of old buildings. Currently under construction are a two-story classroom building and an 1,100-soldier training facility.
The 77-acre site will soon have 38 buildings, close to 30 units and 4,000 soldiers and Marines.
"We're turning it into a mini-installation," Manaugh said.
Ellie
Posted on Mon, Jan. 14, 2008
Army Reserve to bring local facility back to life
By CHRIS VAUGHN
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
TARRANT COUNTY -- Only ghosts exist beyond the heavy steel doors, the 20-inch concrete walls and the massive, combination-lock vault.
Amid a lightly rolling landscape in far western Tarrant County is a piece of Cold War history largely unknown, and certainly off limits, to most people, a weather-beaten Air Force sign and 11 massive bunkers the only clue that nuclear weapons were once stored there.
Vacant for more than a decade, this patch of once super-secret property will soon welcome back the military. Only this time, the uniforms will belong to the Army Reserve, who are not bringing back the nukes.
"We're moving fast on this project," said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Gaston, the project manager.
The project represents the beginning stages of a significant building boom for the Army Reserve in North Texas. Long based mostly around Dallas and points east, the service is increasingly moving operations to Grand Prairie, Fort Worth and Denton, where demographics and land availability look increasingly favorable.
"Interest is moving west," said Roger Manaugh, who supervises dozens of major projects in Texas and Oklahoma.
In the next few years, the Army Reserve will be closing 40-plus older or leased facilities and opening 36 new centers in Texas and Oklahoma, many of them to be jointly operated and staffed with the Army National Guard.
Some of the changes are due to decisions made by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005, and some are due to the increases in Army manpower. The Army Reserve has gained approval for 17,000 new positions because of the demands of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"These new units will be stationed in markets that are determined to be high-output markets that can support current and future growth," said Lt. Col. William Nutter, a spokesman for the Army Reserve at Fort McPherson, Ga. "The greater Dallas-Fort Worth market is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets, and the stationing of additional units reflects that growth."
In far western Tarrant County, the Army Reserve took notice of a 250-acre tract of land that the Air Force owned. The property served as a nuclear weapons storage area but has been vacant since Carswell Air Force Base closed in 1993.
The property was cleared of ordnance and declared clean by the Department of Energy, and the Army Reserve took possession last year.
The service is preparing to break ground in the coming months on a $15 million complex, including a 63,000-square-foot training building and a 14,000-square-foot maintenance building.
The reserve plans to move a chemical company, a military intelligence unit and an aviation support battalion onto the site when it is completed in late 2009 or early 2010. More than 500 soldiers will drill there in the near term, Gaston said.
"We'll have 363 pieces of equipment, either wheeled or tracked," he said.
The military plans to open new centers in Denton and Lewisville, and it continues to beef up operations at the old Naval Air Station Dallas, spending millions in the last five years on new construction and renovation of old buildings. Currently under construction are a two-story classroom building and an 1,100-soldier training facility.
The 77-acre site will soon have 38 buildings, close to 30 units and 4,000 soldiers and Marines.
"We're turning it into a mini-installation," Manaugh said.
Ellie