Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON -- Major General Edward Hanlon Jr, commanding general, Marine Corps Base, broke ground on a new Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Academy Monday at the 52 area here.

The need for a new SNCO academy culminated as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure of Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, leaving the old academy with no place to call home.  In the meantime, the current SNCO academy is temporarily housed in a three-building complex at Camp Flores.

Right now, the complex is considered obsolete and inadequate for the demands required by the current academy.  Most students who report to the academy to attend the Sergeants? Course, SNCO course or Advanced course must temporarily live in squad bays.  However, there just enough room to accommodate all the students.

?The academy caters to Marines from different stations in the area,? said GySgt. Michael R. Valiente, Academy noncommissioned officer in charge.  ?Most students end up going home everyday and if a Marine lives in an area that?s too far, they have to get up early to avoid being UA (unauthorized absence).

?Sometimes they just have to be dropped from the academy because there just isn?t enough room,? said Valiente.

The $13-million design-build contract was awarded March 30 to a local contractor and currently administered by Commander Remre Hemstreet, resident officer in charge of construction, public works office, MCB. 

Once built, the new academy will serve as a means to train personnel with the rank of sergeant to gunnery sergeant through the utilization of 22 group discussion rooms and an auditorium.  Each group discussion room is designed to support a class of 20 students and includes computers, television monitors and white boards.  The capacity of the auditorium is designed to accommodate 390 individuals, but can be divided into three separate rooms for a 130-student seating capacity each.  With office spaces and counseling spaces included in the project, the academy will have a square footage of 28,000.

However, the construction of the facility provides for added buildings to support the new academy in its mission.  Structures, such as a multi-purpose activity building, will be constructed for a variety of functions for students and their families.  Also included, an important part of any military training, is an armory with space for cleaning and storage as well as a supply warehouse for equipment.
With the construction of a bachelor?s enlisted quarters that can accommodate 200 visiting students and a parking area for 300 vehicles, the new SNCO academy will be able to complete its mission without turning Marines away. 

Another added feature for the academy will be a parade deck with an adjacent semicircular amphitheater.  This feature will support such functions as outdoor graduations, drills and training.

The completion of the academy is expected to be sometime in late 2001.