The White House Transportation Agency rolled out its fleet of executive vehicles on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, all to help celebrate 100 years of service. The day was not without meaning. The White House Garage was officially recognized as a unit exactly 100 years to the day-February 17, 1910.
Lt. Col. Marc A. Mueller, director of the unit, traced the agency's history - from the conversion of the stables to a garage, and through its transfer to the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and beyond. The ceremony's highlight was the cake cutting, performed by Command Sgt. Maj. C.C. Jenkins,Jr., U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee, and Sgt. Maj. David Simpson, deputy director of WHTA.
Author and automotive expert Michael Bromley was honored for his book,"William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency." Bromley said he hoped his book would be important for the White House Transportation Agency. "I hope, in some way, to touch the Soldiers [of this unit] to instill pride and a sense of duty," he said of documenting the unit's history. "We're better at what we do when we know where we came from."
WHTA is an active-duty unit; it is the only Army unit consisting of all noncommissioned officers. Sgt. Maj. Simpson ended the ceremony by saying, "One hundred years without the NCO would have never worked. We're here to commemorate that individual. The NCO is the person who makes everything move."
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