Symbolic gold shovels went into the ground for the new Army National Guard Readiness Center Thursday. The center will be constructed on the Chennault International Airport complex in Lake Charles.

It was an event 10 years in the making, according to Major Gen. Keith Waddell, the adjutant general for the Louisiana National Guard. He remembered when the ARNG signed a lease for the Chennault property in 2012.

“A lot of projects begin with an idea and never get to this point,” Waddell noted. “Everything has to work, the timing, the appropriations, the design, the plan, everything has to come together for this day to get here. There have been plenty of obstacles and challenges along the way.”

After recognizing the role of the governor, Chennault Airport Authority and local and parish official partnerships in making the center a reality, he described the entire team of the Construction and Facilities Management Office under the command of Col. James Slaven as “the MVPs of the day.”

“The new facility will provide the platform necessary to ensure soldiers and equipment for HHC of the third battalion of the 156 infantry regiment and H company 199 support battalion,” Lt. Colonel Noel Collins said.

“They deserve a state of the art facility because they’re the best in the country at what they do, ‘’ Waddell said. “They’ve been on three federal deployments to the Middle East. They’ve worked numerous state emergencies. They work on readiness every single day and we see men and women of Third Battalion 156 infantry, please know the very best that we have to offer.”

“Your Louisiana National Guard troops are active prior to and immediately after the storms,” said Chennault International Airport Executive Director Kevin Melton, who is a retired U.S. Army Air Force Colonel.

Melton said the Guard distributed six million MREs, two million gallons of water, 1.5 million bags of ice and 22,000 tarps after the 2020 hurricanes.

“This Training and Readiness Center is incredibly important in the process to train and equip our soldiers to do good for our communities,” Melton said. 

Waddell said when the project was begun the price tag was at $24 million. Now, the 58,000-plus facility is at $31 million. The project consists of a 48,000-square-foot main facility and a 10,000-square-foot maintenance center. The existing facility had inadequate space, Collins said. It also received heavy damage after the hurricanes. The new center will be funded 75/25 federal and state funding respectively.  H&S Architects is the architectural firm for the project. M.D. Descant Construction is contractor.