FORT LEE, Va. (Nov. 25, 2009) -- Ordnance leaders, students and community members gathered with the Family of the late Maj. Gen. Jackson E. Rozier in one of the state-of-the-art training bays at the new Tactical Support Equipment Department building Nov. 20 for the official ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony.
Brig. Gen. Lynn A. Collyar, U.S. Army Ordnance School, chief of ordnance, welcomed guests inside the bay where students receive hands-on technical training for the specific equipment and systems they will maintain for America's fighting force.
"We are here to cut the ribbon on a big building and dedicate it to a big man," he said. "In dedicating this building today, we honor and pay tribute to a great American, a great Soldier and a great leader. I think it is fitting that we dedicate the first of our many buildings to come to Fort Lee to Maj. Gen. Rozier as he was born and raised in Richmond and was a pioneer in his own right."
Rozier spent 31 years serving his country including tours in Vietnam, Germany and Korea before retiring in 1990. He is a 1993 inductee into the Ordnance Hall of Fame.
Days of heavy rain mandated an indoor ceremony which provided participants an opportunity to see more detail of the training conducted at the facility.
"We felt that you would get a better perspective of this facility by being inside the bays where we will actually perform our hands-on training," Collyar said. "This is the first of many ordnance training facilities we will be opening as we establish the home of ordnance at Fort Lee."
Classes began at TSED in September after more than 70 trailer loads of training and support equipment were moved from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. The training site staffs over 100 permanent party personnel and is capable of training 750 students daily in round-the-clock shifts. Students are trained in maintenance theory and application, as well as system-specific skills and knowledge that they need to maintain a vast array of power generation and general purpose utility equipment. The bays are equipped with large plasma screens and video software for small group instruction.
Former Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee commanding general Lt. Gen. Mitchell H. Stevenson, the Department of the Army G-4 deputy chief of staff, was the keynote speaker for the rededication of TSED as Rozier Hall. Stevenson said the new ordnance school will surely be a new powerhouse for technical training.
"This is where our newest Soldiers will undergo their technical training prior to joining their first unit and no matter what unit it is, these days it will likely be one that will soon deploy," he said. "Here, the next generation of ordnance Soldiers will learn how to repair generators or troubleshoot a wiring harness or diagnose air conditioning systems. It is the best ordnance training school available anywhere in the world, one that we could only dream about when Maj. Gen. Rozier and I were commandants."
During Stevenson's command at Fort Lee the population of Soldiers, Families, Civilians and students was approximately 20,000. When the Base Realignment and Closure construction is complete the on-post population will double. Fort Lee will then be the second largest training installation in terms of total student output in the U.S. Army.
By 2011, $700 million will have been invested in the Ordnance Campus and the population of ordnance students and permanent party personnel will be 4,000. Stevenson said he was glad to see all the plans developed during BRAC in 2005 come alive in a magnificent way.
"It will be a great boost to all Army logisticians by having them all together as a part of our Sustainment Center of Excellence," Stevenson said.
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