National Guard transfers armory to City of Blytheville

The Arkansas National Guard (ANG) held a property transfer ceremony Wednesday morning for the Billy C. Hyde Readiness Center located at 1700 South Division. The ANG transferred full ownership of the property to the City of Blytheville before a crowd of approximately 40 people.

The armory was built in 1969 and has 10,980 square feet of building space in addition to the five acres of land and out buildings. The facility formerly housed the 1123rd Transportation Company whose mission was to provide transportation support for the movement of bulk cargo, containers and personnel. The 1123rd was deployed in February 2003 in support of Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom and again in October 2007. According to the handout at Wednesday's ceremony, the 1123rd Transportation Company is now implementing a transition plan that will "take the current company's guidon and force structure to its new home in the Missouri Army National Guard" and reassign all personnel within existing ANG units.

"This is something that we've been working on for a little over two years. Knowing that the defense budget would be declining and we'd be put into some fiscal constraints within the Arkansas National Guard as well as the National Guard across the nation, this is one of the decisions that we knew would ultimately come....This readiness center has been in the inventory of the Arkansas National Guard for over forty years and as such, we want to be partners with you all. We are citizen soldiers, we are Arkansans just like you all, and we want you to know that just because we are handing this readiness center off to you, if you ever need us Mr. Mayor, Judge. If you ever need the Arkansas National Guard, we'll always be here for you," Colonel Gregrey Bacon, Chief of Staff for the Arkansas National Guard said.

The Blytheville facility is one of seven armories being closed across the state including the ones in Berryville, Brinkley, Crossett, Helena-West Helena, Rector and Wynne. Major General Mark H. Berry, the Arkansas National Guard's Adjutant General said that closing the Blytheville armory brings mixed emotions, but that fiscal constraints require that the ANG downsize some of its facilities.

"Of the seven facilities that we are turning back to the citizens of the state of Arkansas, this is probably the one that I'm most excited about...this is just an incredible facility. It is about 11,000 square feet, five acres of land and it provides a tremendous growth possibility for the City of Blytheville and for Mississippi County...Like Colonel Bacon was saying, we are not abandoning Blytheville or Mississippi County. We've got guardsmen that live in every county of the state of Arkansas and will continue to live in Mississippi County and the City of Blytheville and anytime there is a need for the National Guard in this community we're going to be here...I have a quitclaim deed here that I am going to sign over. It is with great pleasure that I sign this deed and turn the facility over to you," Major General Mark H. Berry, Adjutant General of the Arkansas National Guard said.

Additional information was also handed over to the city regarding the buildings, its maintenance records, serial numbers for air conditioning units, architectural renderings and blueprints and etcetera.

"Sir, that key is to the front door and there is a box inside that has keys to everything else around here. We also looked through our files and records and found any type of architectural renderings or anything like that associated with this property. We have what we call a facility folder. This is for the maintenance building out back and this is everything that we could find associated with the building. It has got serial numbers of air conditioning units, when they were installed, any information we could find on the maintenance history of the building, the last time the building had a roof put on it and the existing warranty," Colonel James Treece, Commander of the 87th Troop Command said.

Mayor James Sanders thanked those present at the ceremony, as well as the ANG and the Governor for their gift to the city.

"Major General Berry, we want to thank you for the cooperation that you and Governor Hutchinson have done and the recognition that you have done for us here in Blytheville....this is a need for the City of Blytheville that could help us even with our plans for a new police department and justice center and we're grateful...it is an answer to prayer that we were actually looking for opportunities to expand in our enforcement and to be able to serve even more people in the Blytheville community," Mayor James W. Sanders said.

thenry@blythevillecourier.com