L. Jerry Hansen, who had served as the Army’s number two official in the office of the assistant secretary for installations, energy and the environment, retired from the Army last month. In Hansen’s place is J. Randall Robinson, who has been the office’s acting principal deputy since June 1. Robinson previously held a series of management and staff positions with the Army’s Installation Management Command and its predecessor …
Rear Adm. Katherine “Kate” Gregory, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific commander, has been named the next NAVFAC commander and chief of Civil Engineer Corps in Washington, D.C. “She is abundantly qualified, both by vast experience and superb leadership, to lead NAVFAC and the Civil Engineer Corps during these challenging, exciting times,” Rear Adm. Christopher Mossey, the current NAVFAC commander and chief of Civil Engineer Corps, wrote in a message to the agency’s employees. Gregory will assume her new post during a ceremony in the fall. Prior to that, she will pin on her second star. Gregory became commander of NAVFAC Pacific and the Pacific Fleet civil engineer in July 2010, according to a NAVFAC press release.
The Air Force is shelving its planned move of Eielson Air Force Base’s F-16 squadron to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson most likely until at least fiscal 2014, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told Alaska Sen. Mark Begich in a letter earlier this week. Schwartz said the Air Force would wait to carry out the proposal until after Congress completes action on the FY 2013 defense authorization and appropriations bills. The versions passed by the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee both reject force structure adjustments proposed by the Air Force, so the move likely will be postponed until at least Oct. 1, 2013, Schwartz acknowledges …
The Defense Department recently awarded $60 million to upgrade and replace schools at two military installations, the first two grants under a $500 million federal appropriation intended to construct, renovate or expand facilities at 161 public schools located on military installations. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the awards Tuesday at a seminar sponsored by the Military Child Education Coalition to demonstrate the department’s effort to invest in the education of military children …
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command activity responsible for coordinating construction of the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., was disestablished during a ceremony last week. The Officer-In-Charge of Construction Bethesda supported and executed the design and construction of more than 650,000 square feet of military medical patient facilities, 415,000 square feet of administrative facilities and 285,000 square feet of barracks space for wounded warriors and their families …
The state of Maryland has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to complete construction of a new station on a commuter rail line serving Aberdeen Proving Ground. About 8,200 new positions came to the proving ground as a result of BRAC 2005, bringing the installation’s workforce to 22,000. The grant will pay for converting the Edgewood, Md., station from a platform to a fully functioning MARC station …
A member of the Guam legislature plans to recommend the Defense Department turn to its family housing privatization initiative to provide housing needed to accommodate up to 5,000 Marines slated to move there from Japan. “The MHPI [Military Housing Privatization Initiative] is a workable alternative to what was previously announced by the DOD, which saw the government of Japan taking advantage of constructing military housing and reaping the benefits of the repayment by the DOD …
At a press briefing during a visit to Fort Hood on Friday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said the Pentagon’s plan to eliminate up to 80,000 soldiers from the Army over the next five years would have a “relatively small” impact on the Central Texas post. “There will probably be some small decrement, but I expect that there will be small decrements across the entire Army at many installations …
In response to declining defense budgets and the possibility of new base closure rounds, the 21st Century Partnership, the community partner for Robins Air Force Base in Middle Georgia, voted last Thursday to shift to a president-CEO organizational structure. “Organizationally, we were missing opportunities to grow,” said Rick Goddard, the partnership’s senior advisor, reported the Warner Robins Patriot. “We needed a full-time leader to manage the efforts and needs of the organization on a day-to-day basis … and not on an advisory or part-time basis …
Two aviation units will relocate to Joint Base Lewis-McChord by Oct. 15, adding more than 500 soldiers to the installation located outside of Tacoma, Wash., the Army announced Thursday. Lewis-McChord will pick up an air cavalry squadron, which will convert to an attack/reconnaissance battalion, from Fort Hood, Texas; and an aviation regiment from Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Fort Hood will lose about 400 soldiers; Fort Wainwright will lose a little more than 100 soldiers. The force structure actions represent the final phase of the activation of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade at Lewis-McChord to meet the Army’s broader strategic and operational requirements. The actions incorporate the Army force generation model and the service’s transformation initiatives, and will help to rebalance the force, the Army said in a written statement.