Military officials gather for annual Military One Coast meeting

Military One Coast held their annual meeting at the Knight Nonprofit Center.

The Military One Coast meeting gathers commanders from multiple military bases. It’s an opportunity for them to network with local leaders and businesses about what goes on within their facilities. Lt. Col. Andrew Ratcliffe With MS-AVCRAD said, “We’re constantly making innovations and improvements in our facility and try to get after improving the overall readiness of the rotary wing fleet for the Army National Guard in the southeast. So, that continues to be one of our number one priorities.”

It’s no secret that there is a strong military presence on the Coast. For troops that are here to stay or just passing through, they play a big role in the economy. Col. Berry McCormick with the Combat Readiness Training Center said, “Folks come down here and we like to encourage them to get off the base. Most people don’t have a clue. If you tell them about the Mississippi Gulf Coast they are like ‘where, what?’”

Commanders also highlighted future projects. At Keesler, they have a project in the works that will refurbish 260 houses on base that are currently unusable because of moisture retention. Col. William Hunter with Keesler Air Force Base said, “Our main tenants are going to be our military, but that does take pressure off the local community if we have those houses on line because then they’ll be houses for rent for your community partners.”

And they too, like many others, are still having to adjust to obstacles put in place during the pandemic.  Captain Jeff Powell with the Naval Construction Battalion Center said, “We have a couple of big construction projects finishing this summer as well as sort of back to normal with our normal deployment and exercise operations as we move out of COVID. It’s great to see the base go back to normal.”