RELEASE NUMBER: 141118-01
DATE POSTED: NOVEMBER 18, 2014
528th Sustainment Brigade (Airborne) holds ground breaking ceremony
528th Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Nov. 17, 2014) ˗ The 528th Sustainment Brigade (Airborne) officially broke ground on its 120,000 square foot brigade headquarters facility during ceremonies Nov. 13, 2014.
The $27 million facility signifies a modernization effort that will greatly improve the support the 528th is able to provide to Army Special Operations Soldiers worldwide. Replacing the aging 528th headquarters building located on Gruber Road, the building and surrounding complex will provide more space and consolidate other units into one central location, including a modernized maintenance facility.
“Today, we commemorate the groundbreaking of the brigade headquarters, Special Troops Battalion headquarters and an adjoining maintenance facility,” said Col. Daniel Rickleff, 528th Sustainment Brigade commander. “This marks a critical point in the brigade’s history as we currently redesign and reorganize the brigade to best support Special Operations Forces globally and integrate under 1st Special Forces Command.”
Soldiers, family members and honored guests of the 528th observed as Rickleff; Brig. Gen. Darsie Rogers, commander of 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional); Richard M. Holcomb, deputy to the commanding general of U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC); Brig. Gen. David Turner, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Col. Steven A. Baker, USASOC deputy chief of staff, engineers, took part in the symbolic first scoops of dirt.
“This project has been planned for quite some time and the facility is long overdue for this brigade,” said Baker. “So it is a reason to celebrate, because today we are bringing the brigade out of their legacy-type facility and into the world class facilities they deserve.”
Baker's reference of legacy-type facilities refers to buildings primarily built during World War II, the Korean Era or Vietnam Era for the purposes of training and providing housing. The current 528th Sustainment Brigade was originally an isolation facility and had many other uses since the late 1960s and early 1970s. The headquarters building has become outdated and much of the facilities’ components are considered obsolete.
The facility and surrounding complex is due for completion in May 2016 and will be officially turned over to the brigade in October 2016.