CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Fort Campbell is on track to have a new middle school by 2023, and renovated barracks over the next nine years, according to Col. Jeremy Bell, the outgoing garrison commander.
Bell gave a farewell speech of sorts to around 150 community and business leaders at the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce Power Breakfast on Tuesday at the City Forum Madison Room. Bell will soon be leaving Fort Campbell for his next duty station, and joining him at the breakfast was the incoming garrison commander, Col. Andrew Jordan.
Bell described the position as “mayor of the city” of Fort Campbell. “We call Fort Campbell a city because it has all the major pieces and parts that make up a city. We’ve got the population, the size, all the infrastructure, and then you have the added benefit of the military component,” Bell said.
Two big parts of that “city” are schools and housing, both of which are getting an upgrade.
Fort Campbell Middle School
For the new Fort Campbell Middle School, funding has been approved, and it’s scheduled to open in 2023.
“We were just funded and the design is complete for the middle school,” Bell told the group.
“This takes the old Fort Campbell High School and converts it into the middle school. So there will be synergy between the middle school and high school, and a lot more collaboration between the two schools. It also gets our middle school, our largest student population, into the 21st century learning model.”
Funding for the new school had been diverted to pay for the border wall, along with funding for other Pentagon projects, according to previous reports. That funding has since been restored.
Barracks renovations
While Fort Campbell has some excellent equipment and facilities, the VOLAR barracks are some of the worst in the Army.
“They are called VOLAR barracks, which means ‘volunteer Army.’ The come from the 1970s and 1980s. They’ve only had minor renovations over that lifespan, but they are not designed well. They don’t accommodate today’s soldiers very well,” Bell said.
“The Army is renovating two barracks per year over the next nine years to make sure that we address this problem and make sure our soldiers have the housing they deserve.”
The project wil start in fiscal year 2021 and continue through 2029, with a new barracks in fiscal year 2029. The construction of a new barracks is on the back end because the renovations will expand room size, and therefore reduce the total number of rooms per barracks, according to Fort Campbell.
Impact of Fort Campbell
Bell said Fort Campbell is the leading employer in Kentucky and the second leading employer in Tennessee. According to a Tennessee economic report, $4.1 billion annually comes out of Fort Campbell and goes directly into the communities surrounding the installation.
About 5,000 soldiers depart Fort Campbell in any given year and many of them want to stay in the area, bringing their discipline and strong work ethic to local employers.
Fort Campbell is the third largest installation in the Army, with about 27,000 soldiers. When you add family members who live on the installation, that’s 44,000 people who call Fort Campbell home.
Bell said 27 percent of the students attending Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools are military dependents, with around 4 percent of students in Christian County, Kentucky, Public Schools being military dependents.
He also praised the 500 civilian employees on post, calling them a great group of professionals.
Chris Smith contributed to this report.