FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., Army chief of staff, lauded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the magnitude and scope of military construction and civil works projects the agency has undertaken over the past five years.
Casey made his remarks after he visited the project on the Fort Belvoir North Area Aug. 11.
The Army's top general visited Fort Belvoir to get a status update on more than $4.5 billion worth of Base Realignment and Closure 2005 projects under the auspices of USACE at the installation. He also toured the Army's largest military construction project since the Pentagon was built in 1943, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency New Campus East. NCE is on what was formerly known as the Engineer Proving Ground, in Springfield, Va.
During the visit and tour, Casey met with leaders of the Corps' North Atlantic Division and Baltimore District; Fort Belvoir garrison staff; and NGA leadership who are directly involved in designing and constructing the $1.77 billion facility that will house 8,500 federal workers who now work in leased space throughout Northern Virginia.
Escorted by Maj. Gen. Merdith ' Bo' Temple, USACE deputy commanding general; and Baltimore District Engineer Col. David Anderson; Casey met with Jim Turkel, North Atlantic Division representative for the Fort Belvoir military construction projects and Col. Mark Moffatt, Fort Belvoir garrison deputy commander for transformation and BRAC, to discuss construction progress.
The general praised the work undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Belvoir and nationwide.
"This is historic and absolutely phenomenal," Casey said, referring to the military and civil works projects the corps has managed in recent years. "The magnitude and the scope of the work, both here at Fort Belvoir, and in New Orleans, are huge. It is great to be here, and to be able to thank you for your efforts."
During the visit, key leaders from USACE and the garrison updated the general on various aspects of the BRAC 2005 projects, including the innovative approach that NAD used to leverage its regional resources to meet the BRAC deadline of Sept. 15, 2011.
While Fort Belvoir projects are typically executed by Baltimore District, division senior leaders implemented a regional solution to leverage the talent and expertise of all six districts to successfully fulfill this mission, Turkel told Casey.
Five of six districts are directly engaged in managing complex, multi-million dollar construction projects at Belvoir. "We will complete and deliver all of the projects on time, and we are well on the way to success," Turkel said. "This is an integrated team effort involving IMCOM; ACSIM ( Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management); Fort Belvoir; the contractor; the customer and the public entity."
Moffatt took the general on a 4-D aerial tour of all the projects at Fort Belvoir, pointing out the significant infrastructure improvements to roads and utilities under way at Belvoir to prepare for more agencies and personnel.
After the briefing, Casey conducted a ceremony recognizing several USACE employees from the Baltimore and New York districts for their outstanding contributions to the Fort Belvoir BRAC mission at NCE and BRAC 133, respectively, by awarding them his personal coin. "It is great to have the opportunity to thank you personally," Casey told each of the coin recipients. "What you are doing here is phenomenal."
(Editor's note: The writer is public affairs officer for the Belvoir Integration Office, North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.)
Social Sharing