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PINE BLUFF ARSENAL LEADERS LOOKING AT YEARS TO COME

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, October 31, 2009 8:08 PM CDT

Officials at the Pine Bluff Arsenal look to the future as the process of de-commissioning the arsenal’s chemical stockpile operations approaches.

Operations at the incineration facility are expected to be completed before the end of 2011.

The officials spoke at a recent White Hall Chamber of Commerce luncheon held at the arsenal.

Larry Wright, civilian executive assistant to the commander, showed an aerial image of the planned future use of the chemical demil facilities area.

“We’re currently in a feasibility study of utilizing selected buildings for military value, mission, and workload, bringing in more work and using it. So our vision is to remove the portions of the incinerator, keep the maintenance building and lavatory and some administrative, and bringing Hum-vees, shelters and other things that are true core chem/bio-defense workload and expand our mission by using these great facilities.”

For a current mission, the arsenal has manufactured 2 million smoke grenades without a single reported failure, Col. Franz Amann, arsenal commander said. “We’re sending products directly to the war fighter. We had to expedite a lot of our production so it could get down to the war fighter. You’re keeping track of what’s going on in Afghanistan. This gets us to standoff distance so our soldiers can respond appropriately without going directly into harm’s way if they can avoid it.”

“We’re bringing a new product line you could say, we’re bringing in GSA vehicles for this whole area,” Amann said. “Those are federal vehicles for federal agencies ... all of those vehicles will be processed through here.”

The mission, he said, would yield employment and additional revenue.

“We have planned over $90 million worth of construction on this installation,” Amann said. “Some of it is for improvement, stimulus money, recognition of the arsenal’s overall contribution to the Army with an annex at our child care services.”

“I go down there quite often and the bottom line for me is I’m happy to see the kids love that facility,” he said. “It’s almost like a second home. I know it gives peace of mind to our workforce.”

Continuing high records of safety among various agencies were also mentioned.

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