REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Brig. Gen. Lynn Collyar, chief of Ordnance for the Army and commanding general of the Ordnance Center and Schools, has a message for Team Redstone - thank you, and job well done.
As the clock ticks down the days until the Ordnance Munitions and Electronics Maintenance School moves to Fort Lee, Va., Collyar paid the school one last visit in his role as commanding general July 6 to thank leaders for their hard work and tour the facilities one last time. While on post, Collyar offered words to soothe worries the Redstone community may have about OMEMS departure from the Arsenal in 2011.
"There's a lot of people that worry about BRAC and what it'll take from us," Collyar said. "Moving to Fort Lee into a state-of-the-art facility is what our Soldiers deserve. They will lose that Redstone community support, but Redstone will also gain by AMC (Army Materiel Command) moving here. BRAC is going to be good for both. In the end, it'll be good for both."
Collyar, a 1975 graduate of Huntsville High School who trained at OMEMS in 1979 and 1983, understands the sorrow associated with the move, but emphasized the move's positive impact on the Soldier.
"For a lot of us old-timers, it is sad to see it go," Collyar said. "But they are using the same facilities that I was trained in. The facilities at Fort Lee are built for modern equipment so we have expanded capabilities. BRAC is not the monster that some people make it out to be. It's all about the Soldier."
Fort Lee's Missile and Munitions Center has state-of-the-art facilities, Collyar said, which will give today's Soldier the skills needed when heading off to war.
"How important their job is to a Soldier today, that volunteered to come into the Army knowing what they were getting into," Collyar said. "It's just that much more critical to provide them with what they need to be successful."
The school's move has a drop date of August 2011, when everyone must be completely out, according to William Kelly, who helped to coordinate the general's visit, leaving about a year left in the school's legacy on the Arsenal.
"There's a lot of history involved, but we're taking that history with us to Fort Lee," Collyar said. "We're not losing our heritage."
Collyar remains grateful to the Redstone community for the support it has provided to the school and its Soldiers over the years, and for all the hard work that is being put into the impending move.
"I appreciate everything they've done to make it a success," Collyar said.
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