The commander of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command says he and his workers look forward to moving to Redstone Arsenal under base realignment and closure.
"This is an exciting time for USASAC," Brig. Gen. Michael Terry said Thursday while visiting Redstone. "This is the next phase I believe in the evolution of the command which was established in 1975."
Coming to Redstone are the command's headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Va., and its finance capability in St. Louis.
"We expect about 40 percent of our personnel from Fort Belvoir and St. Louis to make the move to Redstone," Terry said. "We'll be pursuing hires to fill to the remainder positions.
"We have a very senior staff, people involved in foreign military sales in the world for many years. For people in D.C., quite a few are coming to Redstone which is exciting. We have a good team, very focused, very passionate. They believe in what they're doing and excited about this area and what it offers - affordability, culture, infrastructure. The community is wonderful. They've reached out to us."
About 40 percent of the 190 workers are expected to move with their jobs. Terry expects the command to have about 360 people.
"Though we're a relatively small command our mission is critical," he said. "We like to consider ourselves the face to the world for the U.S. Army for foreign military sales. We support foreign military sales of materiel, services and training. We have approximately 4,000 cases, valued over $60 billion. We deal with countries directly. We want to support our nation's objectives in this area. We make sure we're working to have U.S. industry represented. It all adds up to supporting our strategic goals as a nation."
His first 32 workers are expected to arrive in June. And his command is starting the hiring process for 24 additional people. The goal is to complete the command's move by 2010.
Terry, 50, is originally from Dickson City, Pa. He received his commission from the University of Scranton (Pa.) and a bachelor's degree in law enforcement in 1979. He has a master's in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College, Newport, R.I. His deputy, Richard Alpaugh, is a member of the Senior Executive Service.
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