Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced that a key Senate Panel has fully authorized $53.7 million for the construction and upgrading of several facilities at Fort Drum. These facilities would help address a variety of shortages that have occurred as the base’s population and mission have grown over the past years.
“This is a great investment for Fort Drum and would help upgrade our military facilities while creating good-paying jobs right here in New York,” Senator Gillibrand said. “This federal funding would help improve support services for the soldiers stationed at Fort Drum and ensure our men and women in uniform have the very best facilities and opportunities. They and their families have sacrificed for all of us and we owe them for their incredible service.”
The project is expected to create over 340 construction jobs for a year by providing for the following:
- $15.7 million for a new Soldier Family Care Clinic that will provide additional clinical outpatient services and administrative support to provide care for the increasing population of Fort Drum. The facility will primarily help support the Combat Aviation Brigade soldiers and family members.
- $4.7 million for a new Dental Clinic Addition that will address a deficit of 12 dental treatment rooms to support the needs of nearly 3,600 soldiers. The new facilities will alleviate the long wait times soldiers currently experience.
- $5.7 million for improvements to the Ammunition Supply Point that will help address the current shortage of ammo storage facilities and administrative space to support the ammo supply mission. This project will support the 19,000 soldiers assigned to Fort Drum as well as Army National Guard, Air National Guard and Army Reserve units that train at Fort Drum.
- $7.6 million for a new chapel that will address the shortage of seating for religious services. The project will increase capacity by 215 persons, as well as provide additional administrative space for the chaplains and their staff.
- $20M for a new aircraft maintenance hangar. The construction of the hangar and supporting parking aprons will improve Ft Drum’s ability to support helicopter operations and maintenance at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield.
Federal defense spending must be authorized before money can be appropriated. Now that the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support has approved the funding, the military construction budget is expected to be approved by the full committee this week as it considers the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill will then be sent to the full Senate for passage, reconciled with the House version, and pass the full Congress before being sent to the President for signature.