Fort Jackson needs the continued support from the state of South Carolina to ensure that it stays a premier training capability, according to the post's commanding general.

During a 100 day assessment roundtable with media at post headquarters Monday, Maj. Gen. John "Pete" Johnson and his wife Sheila discussed the current state of the installation and where it was heading.

"We are incredibly lucky to join the beginning of our year long centennial celebration marking 100 years of a shared partnership between Fort Jackson, Columbia and the greater Midlands," said Johnson. "A partnership that, from the inception at the start of World War 1, has supported the training of over five million Soldiers ready to defend our nation and its interest."

Johnson became the commander of Fort Jackson in June. He explained during the roundtable that to ensure that the installation's core mission of taking care of Soldiers, civilians and families is being met, they would have to expand.

"One of the initiatives that will need support from the State of South Carolina and our local communities is to shift our primary entrance gate from Gate 2, (on) Forest Drive, to our Gate 4 (on) Percival Road," he said.

The state would have to support the installation with expanding access to Fort Jackson from the highway. Johnson said moving the gates would help reduce congestion and would make things easier for visiting Families who come to basic training graduation each week.

The project is still in the planning stages.

"We are talking maybe five to 10 years with really making this thing happen," said Johnson. "We haven't yet identified the resources, but right now we are trying to make sure we have the right plan in place."

Fort Jackson is responsible for training about 50,000 Soldiers a year.

In order to help train the projected number of future recruits for the Army, Fort Jackson is building its 11th battalion.

"The 11th Battalion increases our capacity to train upwards of 52,000," said Johnson.

Construction on Hampton Parkway has began for the new battalion.

Johnson says it may take a couple of years to be finished.

"We have to constantly challenge the training environment we have here and see if is it calibrated to meet the needs of our Army," he said.

"We will constantly look at ourselves and evaluate how well we are doing.

We have to double down on what we do here and make sure that every Soldier that leaves Fort Jackson is proud to have come here for training."

For his next 100 days, Johnson wants to focus on continuing "enforcing all of the goodness that Fort Jackson is all about."

"We are aiming to be the premiere training post in the United States Army. It's about continuing a long history of excellence here at Fort Jackson that I recognized when I got here," said Johnson.

"We fundamentally believe this is a sacred mission here. We know each and every day that America trusts and has confidence in our ability to transform their sons and daughters into Soldiers and we take that responsibility very, very seriously."