Army Reserve Training Complex opens for business

Published Jan. 14, 2014
By Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris
99th Regional Support Command

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Dozens of military service members and civilians celebrated the opening of the new Mission Training Complex here during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Jan. 12.

The event was hosted by Brig. Gen. John H. H. Turner III, commanding general of the Army Reserve's Atlantic Division, 75th Training Command (Mission Command).

The MTC will serve as the hub for the Atlantic Division's constructive and virtual training by providing state-of-the-art simulation systems capable of replicating the data-driven environment found on the modern battlefield, as well as by providing real-time, dynamic scenarios that respond to the actions of the training audience.

"Numbers of Army Reserve soldiers are greatest in the northeast, and [the MTC] allows us to train the plethora of units that are in [this area]," explained Maj. Gen. Jimmie Jaye Wells, commanding general of the Army Reserve's 75th Training Command (Mission Command).

Wells added that this MTC, like several others throughout the country, could be used to host international training events as well.

"This will be the place that allows us to have multinational, international, interagency and joint exercises," Wells said.

The MTC is housed in the former Child Development Center, which relocated to an updated facility in November 2011. While the CDC helped educate children, the MTC will help train today's Army Reserve soldiers through use of a 'Virtual Battlefield.'

"The legacy of learning is quite appropriate for us to be in this building," Wells added.

Joint Base MDL assisted in renovating and upgrading the facility in order to meet the high-tech demands of the MTC.

"This is a great example of making the best of what America has entrusted to us in terms of resources to provide for missions in the future," said Air Force Col. James C. Hodges, Joint Base MDL commander.

The Army Reserve's 99th Regional Support Command also played a part in brining the $2 million project to fruition.

"The 99th was pushing hard for us, and the 99th RSC Directorate of Public Works really came into the project and kept it moving," Turner explained. "Without their assistance for the funding, this facility would never have been completed and our mission would have been stalled due to not having the proper equipment."

The MTC project has been in consideration for years, dating back to when Army Reserve Ambassador Alan V. Davis commanded an Army Reserve division here in the late 1990s.

"You will continue to provide great services and products to units and soldiers, and that's what this is all about," Davis said.