A view of the new Transportation Pavilion located adjacent to the Ordnance Training Support Facility. (photo by T. Anthony Bell).

A view from one of the newest additions to the Army inventory – the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (far left) -- at the new Transportation pavilion located at the corner of 22nd Street and Railroad Avenue

FORT LEE, Va. (June 3, 2021) – The historical triad is now complete.

Joining the long-existing Quartermaster Museum and the fledgling Ordnance Training Support Facility at the Sustainment Center of Excellence is a new Transportation Pavilion featuring past and present vehicles the Army has counted upon or is now using to move troops and equipment.

The pavilion brings artifacts from the Army Transportation Museum, located about 70 miles south at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, to Fort Lee where students in T-School courses here can learn from them. Alisha Hamel, ATM director, said the facility fills a training void while strengthening the Trans. Corps profile in the Army sustainment universe.

“It reaffirms the fact that transportation is an essential part of logistics,” she said of the structure completed in December. “The pavilion exhibit gives us the opportunity to tell the Transportation Corps story to the students at Fort Lee.”

A bit of background will benefit comprehension here. The Transportation Corps headquarters was relocated to Fort Lee from Fort Eustis as directed in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act. Many T-School courses are still taught at JBLE and elsewhere. The advanced instructional programs here are mostly relegated to the Army Logistics University and Logistics NCO Academy. Those students have long had access to the QM and Ordnance facilities, but not so much to the ATM. Hamel confirmed very few have visited her museum over the past two years. Having the pavilion in their figurative backyard opens the opportunity for historical exploration.

The Transportation Pavilion is about half the size of a football field. It currently houses 13 pieces of equipment including two rail cars, a DUKW amphibious vehicle and an assortment of vehicles dating from World War II – about the time the Trans. Corps was formed – to the wars of Southwest Asia. Conspicuously placed among the artifacts is a prototype Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, one of the newest to the Army inventory.

A CH-54 Tarhe will be added within the next month, according to Hamel. The odd-looking aircraft commonly known as the Skycrane is a heavy-lift helicopter with a storied history. The one being relocated to Fort Lee has been sitting unprotected from the elements at JBLE, so its new home will benefit its preservation.

To promote the pavilion’s presence, a ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for July 30 at 10 a.m. Visitors are welcome now, however. It is open from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily. The pavilion is located at the corner of 22nd Street and Railroad Avenue, directly behind the OTSF.

For more information about the Trans. Corps or to arrange a visit to the Army Transportation Museum at JBLE, call 757-878-1115.