Photo By Marcelo Joniaux | A construction team cuts a concrete masonry unit, or “CMU”, wall at the new dining...... read more read more
Subscribe
The massive construction effort to deliver an updated, centralized basic training installation for the Department of the Air Force’s newest Airmen and Guardian enlistees is nearing 75% completion.
Construction of Airmen Training complexes here, including two centralized basic military training campuses – “East” and “West” -- began in 2009. The ATCs consist of living and learning facilities for trainees, and dining and classroom facilities located between the ATCs. The new buildings will replace decentralized and outdated recruit, training and housing facilities that are over 50 years old.
“The DAF investment is essential to building stronger forces, ensuring new trainees can evolve into versatile and mission-ready Airmen and Guardians, more capable and better prepared for great power competition,” said Dr. Tim Sullivan, Air Force Civil Engineer Center built infrastructure executive director and facility engineering director.
AFCEC, a primary subordinate unit of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, is leading construction execution of the multi-year effort funded through the DAF military construction program.
“The work at JBSA-Lackland is a critical component of our MILCON mission and an integral part of helping DAF achieve its priorities,” Sullivan said. “Our dedicated professionals oversee execution of the entire program, ensuring each project is completed on time and within budget.”
The ongoing infrastructure modernization at JBSA-Lackland requires extensive collaboration between AFCEC and several stakeholders to centralize BMT campuses for a more efficient training mission.
By partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, AFCEC is delivering functional facilities to house and train nearly 40,000 Air and Space Forces trainees annually during seven and a half weeks of intense training.
“Putting two campuses side by side is a herculean effort, but with the support of USACE it has been made possible,” said Shannon Best, AFCEC’s project manager. “We’re one team and thanks to our longstanding collaboration, we continue to deliver quality construction results.”
The construction of the West campus will mirror the East, which was completed in June 2015. The build includes four ATCs, two DCFs, a running track, a drill pad, war skills training areas and a weapons cleaning pavilion.
Each ATC is designed to accommodate up to 1,248 trainees while the DCF is equipped to serve 2,500 trainees.
“What’s unique about each campus is the facilities have to be designed to ensure they’re properly sized, climate-resilient, functional and most of all, that trainees can call it their new home,” Best said.
In 2019, DAF awarded the first three of seven facilities for the BMT West campus totaling more than $822 million. Two facilities are nearing completion, including a 280,561 square-foot ATC and a 106,541 square-foot dining and classroom facility.
The DCF features a ground-level, full-service kitchen that can feed 674 trainees from two of the ATCs at one time. The upper floors offer a learning environment with 16 auditorium-style classrooms.
“We pushed a mix of innovation and functionality to maximize service operations in the dining area where there’ll be four serving lines to support a steady flow of dining patrons,” Best said.
AFCEC plans to turn over the completed facilities to the 37th Training Wing in October. The wing is the largest, most diverse training wing in the Air Force. In addition to basic military training, it is responsible for English language training and special skills training for Allied forces.
AFCEC is on track to wrap up construction on another ATC in June 2025. This will bring the total number of ATCs on the campus to six, with three DCFs also up and running.
Two additional ATCs, a DCF and the chapel are also in the MILCON portfolio for construction. DAF expects to award construction for one ATC in September 2024, with plans to add the remaining facilities in the coming years.
The chapel will be the first house of worship built on JBSA-Lackland in decades, with a fresh, new design to meet the needs of today’s Airmen and Guardians.
“The new chapel will provide a better space for the thousands of men and women who are going through Air Force basic training in any given week to attend services for 19 faith groups,” said Chaplain (Col.) Charles “Chuck” Seligman, Joint Base San Antonio senior chaplain. "It brings everything to one location. That's a quality-of-life issue, and it's an efficiency-in-the-training-environment issue as well.”
| Date Taken: | 09.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2024 17:21 |
| Story ID: | 481075 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, BMT construction effort moves closer toward completion, by Mila Cisneros, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
