Fort Benning remains on target with a massive expansion and renovation effort under way as part of its Base Realignment and Closure initiatives, officials said.
During the next four years, the post is scheduled to complete $3.5 billion in construction, much of it tied to creating the Maneuver Center of Excellence, which will unite Fort Benning's Infantry Center with the Armor Center and School from Fort Knox, Ky., in 2011.
COL Frederick Wolf, the deputy garrison commander for transformation, said $1 billion in construction is ongoing and another $1 billion in projects will be awarded to contractors by year's end.
"Over the next year, buildings will continue to come out of the ground," he said. "We are transforming about 20,000 acres to create facilities for the Armor School. This includes training areas and ranges."
He said the overall impact at Fort Benning amounts to about 10,000 additional jobs among active-duty Soldiers, Department of Defense civilians and contractors.
At Harmony Church, engineers are building three initial entry training battalion sets, he said. Each features new barracks, training areas, headquarters buildings, dining facilities and physical training areas - all aimed at sustaining Armor, Cavalry and maintenance Soldiers and their cadre.
Five battalion complexes and 25 trainee barracks buildings are going up at Harmony Church and Sand Hill. Each complex can house 1,200 Soldiers.
The development's cost is $320 million and four of the battalions are scheduled for completion by the end of 2009, said George Condoyiannis, the senior engineer at Fort Benning for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Also at Sand Hill, new dining facilities are being constructed for the existing "starship" barracks facilities, Wolf said.
"We're converting the DFACs inside the starships into much-needed classroom space," he said.
Wolf said the arrival of tanks and other equipment from Fort Knox presents other challenges.
It costs about $900 a mile to operate a tank, he said, so they will be hauled to training ranges on heavy equipment transporters and tractor trailers as a cost-cutting measure. The Army also will build simulators to train tank drivers and crewmen.
Also under BRAC, about 1,200 pieces of equipment will be brought here from Fort Gillem, Ga., with the relocation of an Army Reserve Equipment Concentration Site, he said.
On Main Post, Wolf said plans are being made to convert old barracks spaces in the cuartels and adjacent historic warehouses into the Maneuver Noncommissioned Officer Academy campus, which will be combined with Fort Knox's institution in 2011. Space also is being cleared for a new Officer Candidate School and dining facility.
In 2013, the new $507 million hospital will be completed, he said. Another $90 million is being spent on medical equipment, supplies and furnishings.
Wolf said the Army is considering options for the existing hospital site, including the potential for a Veterans Affairs facility, but no decision has been made.
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