Ground broken for Sea Girt training center

Photo By Mark Olsen | From left to right, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Frank Albanese, superintendent, National Guard Training Center; Brig. Gen. Steven Ferrari, deputy commander, 42nd Infantry Division and director of veterans health services, New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs; Brig. Gen. James Grant, chief of the Joint Staff; and Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th District, break ground for a new $30.8 million regional training institute at the National Guard Training Center at Sea Girt, N.J., Aug. 26, 2014. The 254th Regiment (Combat Arms) will manage the 86,000 square-foot facility, which will include an administration and classroom building with 10 classrooms and a library, a 225-person auditorium and a student housing building. The complex will train National Guard Soldiers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, in addition to up to one-third of the Region A United States Army Reserve Soldiers. The 254th trains Soldiers within assigned career management fields including the Non-Commissioned Officer Education System, Military Occupational Specialty Training and Officer Candidate School missions. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen/Released)  

SEA GIRT, NJ, UNITED STATES

08.27.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Wayne Woolley 

New Jersey National Guard   

SEA GIRT, N.J. - The New Jersey National Guard Training Center at Sea Girt has long been considered one of the a top training sites in the northeastern United States for both Soldiers and civilian first responders.

The quality of the facilities is about to match its reputation for excellence.

Ground was broken on Aug. 27 on an 86,000 square-foot training center that will house officer candidates, noncommissioned officer leadership schools and advanced training for medics. In addition, law enforcement agencies including the State Police will be able to conduct training at the $30 million Regional Training Institute.

“There’s an adage in the military. How one trains is how one is going to perform,” said Brig. Gen. James Grant, the Director of the Joint Staff for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. “I can’t think of a project that is more important than this right here.”

Grant noted that the training center will replace World War II housing and classrooms that had no Internet.

The training center will also be replacing buildings that were badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, although the funding for the training center was approved separately from Sandy relief efforts.

Grant said the training center was made possible thanks to the support of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who championed the project.

Smith said the National Guard had made a strong case for the need for the facility.

“This groundbreaking is a huge accomplishment in this time of budget cutbacks,” Smith said. “I want to thank the Guard, without your tenacious support of this training center, it would not have been possible.”

• Date Taken: 08.27.2014
• Date Posted: 08.27.2014 11:59
• Story ID: 140505
• Location: SEA GIRT, NJ, US