BUTTE — I’m at the new Silver Bow Readiness Center just south of Butte where they’re going to be training National Guard units from Anaconda, Butte, and Helena. This is the most state-of-the-art training center in Montana and soldiers will be proud to train here.
“It’s very nice. In my 25 years, this is the nicest building I've seen in the Army. I’ve traveled all over the country and it is one of the nicest facilities in the entire National Guard,” said Sgt. Maj. Ben Ericksen.
Take a look at the new National Guard Readiness Center in Butte:
The 41,000-square-foot facility is located at the Montana Connections industrial park south of Butte and will train 150 soldiers from the 1889th Regional Support Group and the 230th Engineer Support Group.
“It’s beautifully done, it’s laid out to really maximize training and make sure soldiers get the best training that’s available,” said Capt. Logan Gregg.
The $34 million facility will replace the old National Guard facilities in Anaconda and Butte to provide more space and a modernized training environment.
“Instead of investing money, time, resource, location in multiple sites they can really combine those efforts and make a much more effective training facility that multiple units can use,” said Gregg.
The impressive facility will also help in recruitment.
“The upgrade from the old facilities we have in Uptown Butte, I’ve been working there for a long time, and it’s hard to bring somebody in there with pride in what they're doing on the weekend. Now that we’re going to present this building to the public, I think that they’re going to see how far we’ve come,” said Ericksen.
The public is invited to an open house Saturday, Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. until noon at the center at 415 Sugarloaf Loop.
