What’s going on around base?

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Sherry Brown
  • 436th CES commander
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  You may be wondering why everywhere you look on Dover Air Force Base dirt is dug up, flaggers are delaying traffic, and construction barrels, cones or fences line roadways. The good news is Dover has undergone, or is still in progress of, a significant transformation to the tune of almost $550 million. We just finished a $200 million upgrade to our housing by leveraging private industry and exceeding Air Force standards for military housing. We're expanding these upgrades to our dormitories, with the new Dorms-4-Airmen expected to be completed next March, and full-scale renovations converting two more of our dorms, Buildings 402 and 445, to quad-style dorms. The remaining dorms will at least get new carpet, paint and some work done to their bathrooms as they wait for quad dorm conversions.

Everyone can seen the new tower and gas station which are both expected to be completed this summer, but some of you may not have noticed the construction going on at the Port Mortuary where we're adding an Army mission to Dover AFB with the Joint Personnel Effects Depot, as well as construction on the Port Mortuary building itself. Scheduled to begin construction this summer is the Armed Forces Medical Examiner which is another joint mission being relocated to Dover AFB due to Base Realignment and Closure. The AFME building will be constructed over the current Skills Development and Auto Skills Centers, which are being relocated next to The Landings Club and consolidated with the Outdoor Recreation building currently under construction. Another much-awaited project beginning this summer is our new Fitness Center, which will be constructed just northeast of the current gym on the location of the pool.

For those of you taking night and weekend classes in the old Education trailers, you'll be pleased to know our $5 million renovation of Building 261 is on schedule for completion in September when we'll able to move all our education functions into the new Force Development Center right next to the library. Buildings 261 and 262 will house our library, First Term Airman's Course, Airman Leadership School, local university offices and all the classrooms to support these activities, along with a new 40-person auditorium.

Another large-scale construction effort beginning this summer that will impact everyone is our Heat Plant Decentralization, which will put gas lines throughout the base and install boilers at 72 separate buildings. Finally, who can forget the completion of the Oversize Cargo Facility to finish up the Air Freight Terminal and the runway we're rebuilding? We're finally going to start construction of the Oversize Cargo Facility in early summer which allows us to also start construction of our new Aircrew Flight Equipment building across from the wing headquarters. Although you might not have seen much activity on the airfield for the past four months, our contractor has started back up and is laying asphalt and installing lighting to be complete by May just in time for our Air Show and Open House. However, you'll then see concrete work on our C-17 Globemaster III parking aprons, where we'll be replacing asphalt turning areas with concrete to withstand C-17 aircraft movement.

While I haven't been able to cover all construction going on around base such as the C-17 Engine Storage facility, 512th Security Forces Squadron expansion, C-17 Composite Maintenance addition, Fuel Cell Hangar renovations, Medical Facility modifications and Commissary parking lot resurfacing, hopefully you've gotten enough information to share with visitors when they drive around the base and ask "What's going on around base?"