thedrifter
08-07-07, 05:54 AM
Increased training keeps Hawthorne depot viable
STEVE RANSON, sranson@lahontanvalleynews.com
August 7, 2007
Editor's note: This is the first story of a five-part series about increased military training in Central Nevada. LVN Sports Editor Steve Ranson, a member of the Nevada Army National Guard who serves as public affairs officer for Joint Forces Headquarters, spent his summer looking at the military's expanded role in desert training.
Longtime Hawthorne newspaper publisher Tony Hughes has seen his hometown ride an economic roller coaster driven by the will of the military.
Hughes, co-owner of the Mineral County Independent News and a retired National Guard master sergeant, has seen increased military training at the Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD), a situation that hasn't occurred much since the waning days of the Vietnam conflict.
"A lot of things are going down here" said the 23-year veteran who spent most of his time with the Nevada Army National Guard. "We have had the guard's signal battalion and maintenance company here. We have the Navy SEALs here all the time. The Marines from Hawaii and Okinawa spent a week out here as did companies from Camp Pendleton and the USMC Mountain Warfare Center."
Hughes, who was born in Hawthorne, said he is relieved to see the military installation increasing its role in national defense. But that increase almost didn't occur. HWAD was added to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure List, but a spirited fight from the Nevada Army National Guard and Nevada's congressional delegation spared HWAD.
"Our goal is to continue to diversify Hawthorne in case there's a second round of BRAC," said Lt. Col. Hardee Green, commanding officer of HWAD.
Green said the desert and high mountain terrain adjacent to the sprawling 150,000-acre installation 140 miles southeast of Reno provides realistic training for units being deployed overseas.
"I've been to Afghanistan, and this area is similar," said Green, a North Carolina native who assumed command of HWAD one year ago.
Green said training at HWAD has increased more than 300 percent. In January, the installation hosted a battalion of 400 soldiers. In June, Green said the installation was swarming with military personnel.
"We had 900 boots on the ground," Green said. "The National Guard and Army Reserve had 12 units from throughout the country here, and we also had a Marine Corps special operations battalion here."
Hughes said more C-130 cargo planes and CH-47 Chinook helicopters are using Hawthorne's tiny municipal airport for transporting servicemen and supplies for training.
The Nevada Army National Guard is also sending more units to Hawthorne for annual training. In 2006, the 593rd Transportation Co. had its soldiers practice driving and shooting at the same time prior to being deployed to Iraq later that year.
This summer, the 422nd Signal Battalion returned for its second year, while the 150th Maintenance Co. out of Carson City trained on the east side of the depot in abandoned concrete buildings that were once used during the Vietnam conflict.
Lt. Col. Pete Menicucci, commander of the 422nd, said his unit experience situations in a real-world environment without leaving the country.
Activity at HWAD for the past year has been spirited.
Green said he had several conversations with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada about the future of the base.
"Senator Reid told me he wants Fallon and Nellis (Air Force Base) to partner with Hawthorne to be a joint training center," Green said.
Reid fought hard two years ago to ensure HWAD did not become a victim to closure. He said HWAD had the potential to assume an expanded role in training forces to fight the war on terror.
"For many years I have been working with the base to make it more than just an Army depot," Reid said. "To accommodate the increasing role, I am working with the depot and the community to expand the air and rail facilities for the base, and I was able to change a law so that troops can be housed at the depot."
Reid remembers telling the BRAC commission chairman about the expanded role of HWAD during his site analysis.
"One of the Special Forces trainers told him that the terrain provides such a realistic environment that the training at Hawthorne is saving lives of our men and women in combat in Afghanistan," Reid said.
As a result of HWAD being removed from the BRAC list, Reid said he will continue to secure additional funding for infrastructure projects and those that enhance the facility's role in keeping the country safe.
Green said he will use his training experience and call people to ask them to look at Hawthorne. Currently, the installation is not a designated training facility.
"Once HWAD becomes a training center, then there is money to help," Green said. "The in-state goal is to make this a premier training center."
Gov. Jim Gibbons, who was a Nevada congressman during the last BRAC cycle, said in a written statement that using existing resources saves money.
"From the military's standpoint as well as from the taxpayer's standpoint, it is extremely valuable," Gibbons said of HWAD.
Gibbons said HWAD and the Fallon Naval Air Station are vital to Mineral and Churchill counties.
"The more ways in which they prove their worth to the military, the less likely the military will be to make any attempt to close them in the future," Gibbons said
Ellie
STEVE RANSON, sranson@lahontanvalleynews.com
August 7, 2007
Editor's note: This is the first story of a five-part series about increased military training in Central Nevada. LVN Sports Editor Steve Ranson, a member of the Nevada Army National Guard who serves as public affairs officer for Joint Forces Headquarters, spent his summer looking at the military's expanded role in desert training.
Longtime Hawthorne newspaper publisher Tony Hughes has seen his hometown ride an economic roller coaster driven by the will of the military.
Hughes, co-owner of the Mineral County Independent News and a retired National Guard master sergeant, has seen increased military training at the Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD), a situation that hasn't occurred much since the waning days of the Vietnam conflict.
"A lot of things are going down here" said the 23-year veteran who spent most of his time with the Nevada Army National Guard. "We have had the guard's signal battalion and maintenance company here. We have the Navy SEALs here all the time. The Marines from Hawaii and Okinawa spent a week out here as did companies from Camp Pendleton and the USMC Mountain Warfare Center."
Hughes, who was born in Hawthorne, said he is relieved to see the military installation increasing its role in national defense. But that increase almost didn't occur. HWAD was added to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure List, but a spirited fight from the Nevada Army National Guard and Nevada's congressional delegation spared HWAD.
"Our goal is to continue to diversify Hawthorne in case there's a second round of BRAC," said Lt. Col. Hardee Green, commanding officer of HWAD.
Green said the desert and high mountain terrain adjacent to the sprawling 150,000-acre installation 140 miles southeast of Reno provides realistic training for units being deployed overseas.
"I've been to Afghanistan, and this area is similar," said Green, a North Carolina native who assumed command of HWAD one year ago.
Green said training at HWAD has increased more than 300 percent. In January, the installation hosted a battalion of 400 soldiers. In June, Green said the installation was swarming with military personnel.
"We had 900 boots on the ground," Green said. "The National Guard and Army Reserve had 12 units from throughout the country here, and we also had a Marine Corps special operations battalion here."
Hughes said more C-130 cargo planes and CH-47 Chinook helicopters are using Hawthorne's tiny municipal airport for transporting servicemen and supplies for training.
The Nevada Army National Guard is also sending more units to Hawthorne for annual training. In 2006, the 593rd Transportation Co. had its soldiers practice driving and shooting at the same time prior to being deployed to Iraq later that year.
This summer, the 422nd Signal Battalion returned for its second year, while the 150th Maintenance Co. out of Carson City trained on the east side of the depot in abandoned concrete buildings that were once used during the Vietnam conflict.
Lt. Col. Pete Menicucci, commander of the 422nd, said his unit experience situations in a real-world environment without leaving the country.
Activity at HWAD for the past year has been spirited.
Green said he had several conversations with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada about the future of the base.
"Senator Reid told me he wants Fallon and Nellis (Air Force Base) to partner with Hawthorne to be a joint training center," Green said.
Reid fought hard two years ago to ensure HWAD did not become a victim to closure. He said HWAD had the potential to assume an expanded role in training forces to fight the war on terror.
"For many years I have been working with the base to make it more than just an Army depot," Reid said. "To accommodate the increasing role, I am working with the depot and the community to expand the air and rail facilities for the base, and I was able to change a law so that troops can be housed at the depot."
Reid remembers telling the BRAC commission chairman about the expanded role of HWAD during his site analysis.
"One of the Special Forces trainers told him that the terrain provides such a realistic environment that the training at Hawthorne is saving lives of our men and women in combat in Afghanistan," Reid said.
As a result of HWAD being removed from the BRAC list, Reid said he will continue to secure additional funding for infrastructure projects and those that enhance the facility's role in keeping the country safe.
Green said he will use his training experience and call people to ask them to look at Hawthorne. Currently, the installation is not a designated training facility.
"Once HWAD becomes a training center, then there is money to help," Green said. "The in-state goal is to make this a premier training center."
Gov. Jim Gibbons, who was a Nevada congressman during the last BRAC cycle, said in a written statement that using existing resources saves money.
"From the military's standpoint as well as from the taxpayer's standpoint, it is extremely valuable," Gibbons said of HWAD.
Gibbons said HWAD and the Fallon Naval Air Station are vital to Mineral and Churchill counties.
"The more ways in which they prove their worth to the military, the less likely the military will be to make any attempt to close them in the future," Gibbons said
Ellie