SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) -- The headquarters element of the U.S. Army's Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command was officially welcomed here with two formal ceremonies Aug. 14.
The base marked the start of SDDC's permanent residency with an arrival and presentation of colors ceremony at the base parade field followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the command's new headquarters building.
The first ceremony, the presentation of the SDDC colors, included a 13-gun salute by a battery of cannons. The 113th Army Band from Fort Knox, Ky., provided the music.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony followed at the new SDDC headquarters.
Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, presided at the first ceremony and welcomed Army Maj. Gen. Kathleen M. Gainey, SDDC commanding general, to the base.
"TRANSCOM, the entire Scott community of some 13,000 and-I believe I can safely say-the St. Louis metro-east community welcome you," Schwartz said. "Today's ceremony reinforces our commitment to doing just that; letting the community-on and off base-know of your arrival."
Army Lt. Gen. William E. Mortensen, deputy commanding general for Army Materiel Command at Ft. Belvoir, Va., presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new SDDC headquarters building.
The new building will serve as the temporary headquarters facility for the Army command throughout the next three years and will accommodate up to 500 personnel. SDDC and USTRANSCOM will break ground in 2008 on a permanent headquarters facility which will be approximately 180,000 square feet in size. It will be located behind the current USTRANSCOM headquarters building and will serve as the final stage in SDDC's relocation from three areas in Virginia to Scott AFB.
SDDC's move to Scott AFB is a result of the most recent Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendations which became law in November 2005.
SDDC took its first official step in relocating from Virginia to Scott AFB, Sept. 12, 2006, with the opening of the SDDC Advance Team facility where a contingency team worked to get members of the command moved into the new headquarters facility.
SDDC's move to Scott AFB is occurring in two phases. Phase I consists of incrementally moving the SDDC Headquarters from Alexandria, Va., and the Transportation Engineering Agency, Newport News, Va., along with some functional areas of SDDC Headquarters located at Fort Eustis, Va., through the end of 2007. Phase II will entail moving the remainder of the Fort Eustis element incrementally until the end of 2010. By then, SDDC expects to have about 1,100 military, federal civilian and contractor positions in place on the base.
SDDC is one of three component commands of USTRANSCOM. The other two are the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, also at Scott AFB, and the Navy's Military Sealift Command, with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. SDDC is also a major subordinate command to Army Materiel Command.
