NORFOLK, VA -- NORFOLK, Va. - U.S. Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment officially opened the Marine Corps’ newest barracks at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown this past Thursday, Oct. 26.
The service’s newest $27.6 million barracks is a state-of-the-art facility designed to bring substantial quality of life improvements for Security Forces Regiment Marines. These include a professional chef’s kitchen space, small meeting areas for work and off-duty socials, and also a 24-hour gym facility to be completed within the building.
“Accepting this barracks is a game changer and another advance in a now 15-year-old Navy and Marine Corps effort to improve the quality of life for Marines and Sailors supporting the Marine Corps’ Fleet Antiterrorism Security Teams,” said Col. Scott M. Reed, Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment.
The new barracks are the model for how the Marine Corps intends to manage barracks facilities moving forward. The service’s direction is to increase occupancy rates in its newer facilities, which provide better amenities and quality of life, while vacating and demolishing older ones.
“We are always strongest as a team, and this new facility brings the Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment team together in a centrally located living space,” said Lt. Gen. Brian W. Cavanaugh, Commanding General, Fleet Marine Forces, Atlantic, and Commander, Marine Forces Command. “These new barracks also represent the Marine Corps’ commitment to improving the quality of life for the young men and women who serve this great nation.”
The new barracks also provides the Marine Corps more flexibility to support missions within the Norfolk area, drawing the service closer to its U.S. Navy counterparts while also supporting a critical mission with Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment. Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment is responsible to support combatant commanders in providing security for strategic weapons and rapid response, forward deployed, anti-terrorism security forces.
“The larger effort included the consolidation aboard Naval Weapons Station Yorktown of multiple Marine Corps Security Forces Regiment operational elements, which were previously spread across four other Navy facilities in Virginia’s Tidewater Region,” Reed said. “We now have the capacity aboard Naval Weapons Station Yorktown to grow our on-hand strength to match our table of organization. This also allows us flexibility to surge capacity above that number, billet and train Marine Corps Reserve platoons to augment our mission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and offer opportunities for units from across the Marine Corps to temporarily billet and train here.”