“From my standpoint, we are very excited,” said Captain Gordon E. Pry, commander of the 706th Transportation unit, who volunteered to come to this unit. “It is a great opportunity for me. Starting a new unit is hard to do, but this is a chance to start from scratch and build this up.”
“It’s also a great opportunity for the community and the soldiers who will be here,” he said.
The unit has already made its presence known by actively participating in the Christmas in Trenton parade and also by partnering with a local charity to deliver toys to some less fortunate children.
“It is all about giving back and becoming part of the community,” said Pry, who has been in the Army for 22 years. “We’re not going to just be here on weekends. The city has supported us greatly and we appreciate being part of this community.”
The unit expects to have 163 soldiers assigned by the end of October 2013, according to Unit Administrator and Staff Sergeant Tia Howard. There are currently 106 soldiers and eight full-time staff members on site.
“We started having drills in August, but we didn’t activate until September,” Howard said.
The unit mission is to conduct line and local haul transportation operations in support of theater, corps and division level missions. They are equipped to transport containerized cargo, break-bulk cargo, ammunition, bottled/bulk water and bulk petroleum products.
The center also will house the 365th and 559th Transportation Detachments, which will conduct a trailer transfer point supporting line and local haul motor transport operations to a transportation command element.
The center has two buildings and sits on approximately 20 acres of land as the first resident of Trenton’s Industrial Park. Two buildings combined are more than 42,000 square feet in space and house everything from offices to supply areas and a fitness center. When fully equipped, it will have 74 vehicles on site.
Pry called the buildings “environmentally friendly” because they are equipped with a filtration system to collect any spillage so as to not damage the environment.
“We’re excited to have the center opening,” Trenton City Manager John Jones said. “We feel they have established the expectation we are looking for in future tenants of the Industrial Park.”
Jones said there are approximately 165 acres available in the Industrial Park.
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