Photo By Terrance Bell | Claire Samuelson (middle), chief of the Northeast and OCONUS Regions, Army Museum...... read more read more
FORT LEE, Va. (March 2, 2020) -- Over the course of a decade, the precious and priceless artifacts of the old Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., were moved here; companion to the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005 directing the Ord. School’s relocation and consolidation at Fort Lee.
While the schoolhouse departments moved into new facilities on what is now the Ordnance Campus, the artifacts – hundreds of training aids ranging from rifles to railguns – were without a home and temporarily placed in warehouses and outdoor locations throughout the installation.
No longer.
The trove of ordnance hardware is now housed in the gleaming new and imposing Ordnance Training Support Facility -- the Army's first -- located near the Lee Avenue Gate. Its grand opening ceremony is scheduled for May 6. The event will bring a symbolic close to years in temporary limbo – a long-awaited return to sharing a storied past and the excitement and enthusiasm surrounding a unique facility, said the TSF’s top official.
“It has a built-in ‘wow’ factor,” observed Claire Samuelson, chief of the Northeast and OCONUS Regions, Army Museum Enterprise, Army Center of Military History – the agency that will operate the new TSF. “You really don’t have to say anything (to visitors); you just have to lead them in. This is ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ for ordnance.”
Indeed, the TSF’s plethora of biographical profiles, maintenance equipment, vintage ammunition and other training aids will likely make it a mouth-watering experience for history buffs, and enhance its overall mission, which is to advance Soldier training, education and leader development, Samuelson said.
To that end, TSF assets offer plenty from which to learn. There are examples of obsolete, altered and modified, and modern pieces along with oddities such as the gargantuan sisters of artillery – Anzio and Atomic Annie “that embody the Ordnance Corps’ ability to capture enemy equipment and exploit it for the development of American pieces,” in Samuelson’s words.
Anzio Annie, a German railgun, and Atomic Annie, the American response to the captured technology, are the facility’s showpieces. The guns are so massive, the floor space was designed around them, and their near 70-foot barrel lengths command attention from anywhere in the facility.
The Annies’ presence, however, is well-complemented by an assortment of training aids from various countries and different eras laid out in quads, chronologically.
“We start out with towed artillery from the Revolutionary War, and it goes right up to modern day,” said Samuelson, explaining the placement scheme.
The training aid inventory numbers roughly 130 artillery pieces, explosive ordnance disposal robots, rockets, tanks, small arms and other equipment located in a sunken high bay roughly the size of a football field. The facility totals more than 120,000 square feet and includes classroom space, archive storage areas, a library and administrative offices.
Soldiers training at the facility – advanced individual training students for now – will benefit from a lesson plan developed with the support of the Ordnance School historian and others. The program of instruction lasts about two hours, starting in the classroom and concluding in the high bay.
“We have one curator who will talk about the older pieces and another who will talk through the more modern artifacts, the technological advancements and how we learn from friend and foe alike,” Samuelson said.
The TSF has conducted a number of dry runs and surveys to gauge where it needs to make changes. The survey results have been encouraging, Samuelson observed.
“We are still in the learning phase and won’t start training tours for another month or two,” she said, “but they (AIT students) love the tour and love the building. They all say they want to do it again, how exciting it is and how it increased understanding of not only their military occupational specialty but also the Ordnance Corps in general.”
When the TSF officially opens within the coming weeks, it will be the only facility of its kind in the U.S. Army. Three more such facilities are scheduled to open in the future, according to Samuelson. TSFs offer a type of training Soldiers do not get anywhere else.
“I think the programs of training we will offer are imperative, considering the fact we see history repeat itself,” she said. “For young AIT Soldiers to come in here and see the things that came before them and stand next to those pieces of history … it will leave an impression and show them they’re part of a larger picture.”
Between 8,000 -10,000 ordnance Soldiers are expected to undergo training at the facility annually, Samuelson estimated.
The facility staff can be contacted via email to usarmy.lee.ordnance-schl.list.us-army-od-tsf@mail.mil or phone: 804-734-4363.
| Date Taken: | 03.02.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.02.2020 09:35 |
| Story ID: | 364262 |
| Location: | FORT LEE, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 2,202 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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