Training command plans big moves

U.S. Army Times

Feb 27, 2011 9:23:34 EST

FORT MONROE, Va. — Training and Doctrine Command headquarters will relocate to nearby Fort Eustis, Va., in August, ending four centuries of British and American military activity at Fort Monroe on this strategic peninsula at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

The TRADOC headquarters move is one of the last major moves required by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission mandate of 2005. In addition to the headquarters move, TRADOC is consolidating several branch service schools and subordinate commands at four of its installations, while establishing joint service training centers for chaplains, cooks and transportation managers at three others.

The deadline for completing these moves is Sept. 15, a requirement that will be met, according to John Durkin, the command’s BRAC director.

The realignment actions have required the movement of 11,000 employees and permanent party soldiers, including nearly 1,700 headquarters personnel who will make the move from Monroe to Eustis this summer.

TRADOC has received about $4 billion in funding to execute its BRAC-related construction activities, primarily the merger of like-type branch service schools into centers of excellence.

“Normally we would not get that level of construction dollars in 10 to 15 years,” Durkin said.

However, he noted that because of administrative efficiencies resulting from the merger of service schools and subordinate commands, TRADOC has given back 1,500 personnel slots to the Army, both military and civilian.

Because of the pending relocation of command headquarters to Fort Eustis, the Army will end a relationship with Fort Monroe that began in 1819-34 with the construction of a coastal artillery fortification on land long known as Old Point Comfort.

The fort is named for James Monroe, president of the U.S. from 1817 to 1825. As of mid-February, construction work on a new TRADOC headquarters building at Fort Eustis was about 90 percent complete.

The command will take over the building on May 3 from the Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing construction. Information technology equipment and hookups will be installed over the summer, making the headquarters ready for operations in late August.

Since the current headquarters is less than 20 miles from Fort Eustis, current employees will not have to make permanent-change-of-station moves. The headquarters relocation will include TRADOC’s deputy commanding general for initial-entry military training, who, along with his staff, will move into the old post headquarters at Fort Eustis.

While TRADOC will continue to be commanded by a four-star general, the BRAC process requires that Fort Eustis and nearby Langley Air Force Base consolidate for installation management purposes as Joint Base Langley-Eustis. An Air Force officer will be the post commander, and TRADOC will be a tenant activity on that post, according to Durkin.

The Fort Monroe Authority, a political subdivision of the state of Virginia, will assume management responsibility “in perpetuity” for the 565-acre site as the Army departs Sept. 15.

The authority will be responsible for the preservation, renovation and redevelopment of existing buildings, facilities and grounds that make up the National Historic Landmark District.

Historic homes that have served as family housing on the post are available for lease by active-duty members of the armed forces.