Reservists from the Army, Navy and Marines came together to hoist flags in front of a new $18 million training facility at the Schenectady County Airport during a ribbon-cutting event on Thursday, May 29.
The 100,000-square-foot Joint Armed Forces Training Center off Rudy Chase Drive will serve as a training and armory facility for 700 armed forces personnel from 16 Navy Reserve units, one Marine unit and two Army units. The center will also serve as a recruitment and family support services facility.
At Thursday’s ceremony, Capt. John E. Cole, commander of the Navy Reserve Region Mid-Atlantic Component Command, said the new center serves as an upgrade in real estate.
In addition to the large main building, a 4,400-square-foot maintenance facility will also be constructed.
The red brick facility features a 30-foot entranceway and houses a dozen classrooms and other rooms for physical fitness, military training and storage.
The site also features parking for 420 vehicles, landscaping, walkways, and an extension of an existing roadway.
The facility replaces the Albany Reserve Training Center, which had been in operation since 1956. It also replaces armories in Glens Falls and Schenectady.
About 180 Marines from Fox Company out of Albany will train for guard duties at the center.
About 191 New York Army National Guard members from the 501st Explosive Ordnance Battalion and Company E of the 427th Brigade Support Battalion, currently stationed at the Washington Avenue Armory, and 200 Navy members will also be trained at the new facility.
Additionally, the center will house 40 full-time administrative and support staff.
Navy Commander Lisa Schweinfurth will serve as a liaison for deployed Naval Reservists. She said 60 area Seabees, members of the Navy’s engineering arm, will be deployed within the month for training in Mississippi. It will be her job to maintain contact with the Seabees families.
I’ll keep in touch with family and see if they need assistance, said Schwienfurth. `We’ll try to keep things less stressful on them.`
Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said that with 700 servicemen and women and their families visiting the 18-acre airport site regularly, he was hopeful the local economies of Scotia and Glenville could reap the benefits.
`They’ll be eating in nearby restaurants and shopping at nearby retailers,` said Gillen.
County Legislator Martin Finn said the facility was proud that the military chose to use county land for the project. He said the ribbon cutting marked another important success at the burgeoning airport. The airport is also the new home of the airport tech park., which will contain Fortitech, a maker of nutritional supplements, as well as other businesses.
`It’s all part of the grand plan for the airport,` said Finn.
But Thursday’s ceremony was about more than the economy or land development.
U.S. Congressmen Mike McNulty, D-Green Island, who championed the project and helped secure its funding in 2006, said it was necessary for military personnel to have the most up to date facilities possible.
`I’m reminded on a daily basis of the tremendous service and sacrifice of our military men and women,` said McNulty. `I thank God for my life and veterans for my way of life.“