WITH approximately $500,000 direct funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, the construction of a new CNMI Army Reserve building in Puerto Rico has been completed.
The one-story facility’s ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 17.
Capt. Greg Sablan, the company commander of the Army Company E (CNMI and Guam) of the 110th Battalion and 442nd Infantry, yesterday said the increasing number of Reservists in the CNMI prompted the construction of the facility.
“We are getting more individuals joining the military, the Reserve. We’ve been planning all these long before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,” Sablan told Variety.
He said the project boosts the operations, training and other activities of the Reservists, given the greater role they play in protecting the nation since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America.
The facility will be used for the daily operations of the Reserve.
Telephone lines, fire extinguishers and other additional safety features and utilities are being installed in the building.
There are about 1,400 members of the National Guard and the Reserve in the CNMI and Guam.
This first building is phase 1 of the Reserve project for this year. It has offices, classrooms, conference room and library, among others.
Sablan said a few weeks after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for phase 1, a ground-breaking ceremony for phase 2 of the project will follow.
Phase 2 consists of another Reserve building to rise beside the first one.
This second building will be used primarily as storage area, but will also house a fitness center.
Sablan said the Department of Defense appropriated some $400,000 for this second project.
The renovation and expansion of the existing U.S. Army Air Force Exchange Service Troop Store in Puerto Rico has also been completed.
Sablan said the ribbon-cutting ceremony for this project is scheduled for Sept. 7.
The Department of Defense also has ongoing construction projects on Guam and the American Samoa.
