U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) gave the keynote address Tuesday at the groundbreaking ceremony of the New Jersey Army National Guard Regional Training Institute (RTI) to be constructed at the National Guard Training Center in Sea Girt, Monmouth County.
“This groundbreaking is a huge achievement,” said Smith. “This Training Center will provide a state-of-the-art venue designed to facilitate superior training opportunities for medics, OCS and NCO classes among others not just for New Jersey but for the entire Northeast as well.”
The $30.8 million, 86,000-square-foot facility will include an administration and classroom building with 10 classrooms and a library, an auditorium with seating for 225 personnel and a student housing building. The facility will provide soldiers the necessary classroom and related training space combined with billeting accommodations for year-round training, as well as supporting both current and future schoolhouse requirements.
Stressing the importance of training, Smith said, “Whether the mission be combat or natural disasters or manmade emergencies, superior training mitigates error, loss of life and casualties and ensures superior performance, efficiency, cohesiveness and ultimately success.”
Congressman Smith was introduced at the Aug. 26 event by Brig. Gen. James Grant, Chief of the Joint Staff, who said of Smith, “I believe that Congressman Smith’s biggest focus is not only the military, but being a member of the human rights commission because he takes it seriously that human beings are our most precious resource in this nation. He understands it; he gets it and he alone is the standard bearer in our United States Congress on that particular issue.”
The new facility will replace the current World-War-II-era buildings that are severely outdated and lacking in technology, said Grant. Grant said the project was made possible thanks to the support of Congressman Smith whom he said championed the project.
“I want to thank the Guard for your tenacious promotion of this important training center,” Smith said. “It would have not happened if you had left one stone unturned. So the credit goes to the New Jersey National Guard and Gen. Grant and Gen. Cunniff for your leadership.”
The new Regional Training Institute will provide a modern instructional complex where National Guard soldiers and up to one-third of the U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont will receive Military Occupational Specialty sustainment and leadership training.
The 254th Regiment (Combat Arms) programs and provides institutional training within assigned career management fields, Non-Commissioned Officer Education System, Military Occupational Specialty Training and Officer Candidate School missions based on the requirements identified by the National Guard Bureau-Individual Training Branch, the Army Program for Individual Training, the United States Army Reserve, and the Active Component in support of the Army’s Modular Force. The 254th trains soldiers in response to the Army’s current needs and operational environment and additionally, provides operational, training, administrative, logistical and resource management support as required to accomplish the mission to train soldiers.
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