Clam shelters open for business at WSMR

Two clam shelter facilities are now open for business at White Sands Missile Range following an opening event at the site Jan. 29.

Jimmy O. Perez, the Logistics Readiness Center Director at WSMR, said the short-term structures were put together to accommodate DES and DPW heavy equipment repairs. The shelters are located at the yard of Building 1753.

WSMR Garrison Commander Col. Donyeill A. Mozer, Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Jimmy Diaz, Master Sgt. Zachary Rios with SOF-TEC, Ricardo Neira Jr., Maintenance Chief, and Richard Camacho, Maintenance Supervisor, Heavy Shop, were in attendance.

Also in attendance were Col. Stacy L. Moore-Callaway, Commander of the 407th Army Field Support Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, and Lt. Col. Travis S. Dayton from Fort Bliss, Texas.

“This has been a long time coming,” Mozer said. “We were trying to find a facility in which to house our heavy equipment and do maintenance here at WSMR.”

Mozer said they were able to accomplish the task with the help of SOF-TEC leadership, the 407th Army Field Support Brigade and WSMR Garrison. He said SOF-TEC, the 407th and WSMR Garrison came together to find a solution.

The equipment had been temporarily housed at Special Operations Forces – Training and Experimentation Center facilities which are now needed for SOF-TEC operations.

Perez said WSMR LRC had been using the SOF-TEC facilities for five years. He said the shelters were assembled in three months.

Perez said the shelters provide enough room for them to house their fire trucks and ladder trucks. He said the shelters are equipped with heating and air conditioning.

“This is more than enough room for us to do all our heavy equipment work,” Perez said.

Moore-Callaway said this is one of sixteen battalions and LRCs they cover across the southwestern part of the country.

“This allows us to consolidate our maintenance activities,” Moore-Callaway said. Before they got this facility they were spread across four facilities all over WSMR.

“This allows us to keep everybody in one spot, and it makes it so much more efficient for us to supervise the maintenance because we are managing all the Garrison equipment. It’s a big mission and it is great to have this beautiful facility to put it all in.”

Moore-Callaway said shelters like these are in use all over the world to include very sandy and windy locations. “These facilities are going to allow us to take care of folks for the foreseeable future, and it is really fantastic.”