BANGOR, Maine — Three years of construction culminated on Saturday with the opening of the Maine Army National Guard‘s new $14.5 million Army Aviation Readiness Center, a building as green as the uniforms of the people who use it.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was among several dignitaries, including U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Gerald F. Bolduc, the guard’s acting adjutant general, who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. More than 200 soldiers and civilians attended at the National Guard campus on Hayes Street near Bangor International Airport.
Collins said she was impressed with the Guard’s new home. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Collins strongly advocated for the building’s funding in 2012, she said. Site preparation began in October of that year, groundbreaking occurred the following June and finished in September 2015.
Events such as the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday show that National Guard units such as Maine’s must always be prepared, Collins said.
“The units that train here are assigned crucial missions of medical evacuation, air assault, security and support, and search and rescue. Whether in combat zones overseas or in response to disasters here at home, the men and women who train here will be better prepared to defend freedom and to save lives,” Collins said Saturday.
“This new center will enhance the professionalism the Maine Army National Guard is already known for. Just as important, it is an investment that confirms the high regard America has for the men and women who carry out difficult and dangerous missions on our behalf,” she added.
The building is home to about 180 Army National Guard aviation unit soldiers, including those from units of the 126th Aviation Medevac, 224th Aviation Assault and 142nd Aviation Headquarters battalions.
Maine has 474 Guard members who are women, 192 of them members of the Maine Air National Guard and another 282 serving in the Maine Army National Guard, officials have said.
The building, which contains offices, a cafeteria, and training and meeting rooms, carries a U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver designation. That means with its R-20 to R-40 insulation, LED lighting and Energy Star-rated equipment, it provides maximum energy and water efficiency standards, officials said.
The 52,850-square-foot facility, a construction project awarded to ITSI Gilbane Co. of Walnut Creek, California, replaces classrooms that were constructed 70 years ago at the airport.
Its completion follows the September opening of the state National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion’s new headquarters, the $23.5 million readiness center on the former Brunswick Naval Air Station in Brunswick.
That center took three years to build and is home to approximately 200 soldiers from three units within the 133rd Engineer Battalion — the Headquarters Company, Forward Support Team and 1035th Survey and Design Team, officials have said.