CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH DEL AVERY, MICHIGAN NATIONAL GUARD
—WJMN Photo—
Michigan National Guard officials, along with elected state leaders, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Michigan Army National Guard Ishpeming Armory on Wednesday. The ceremony highlights the work that is set to begin to modernize the facility to better serve Michigan’s women soldiers.
Del Avery is the Master Planner at the Michigan National Guard’s Construction and Facilities Management Office.
“The women that serve in our ranks is one of the largest-growing population of recruits that we have coming into the force,” Avery told RRN News. “Back in the day, 62 years ago when we looked at this, it wasn’t even hardly a consideration to have facilities available for women soldiers. In Ishpeming, we have a small number of toilets and one shower for women. But there’s 16 women soliders who serve out of that armory. If you get a two-to-three-minute shower for each soldier, and if you only have one, it really puts strain on that unit commander from having valuable training time.”
So, they’re going to add five showers and five more toilets for women’s soldiers, and they’ll add a lactation room for nursing mothers who are serving in the Guard.
Avery says another huge part of this project is making the facility more accessible for people with disabilities. He says having facilities that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act were never thought of in 1962, because the ADA hadn’t even been put into place yet. That didn’t happen until 1990.
“If you drive by the facility, you’ll see that it’s up on a hill,” Avery said. “It’s a multi-story facility, and this (set of upgrades) will provide freedom of movement throughout the armory without any assistance needed. We’re expanding the lobby area to make it more inviting, and inclusive.”
One of the big improvements will be putting in an elevator.
“The main function of the armory is on the second level, where the public comes into the large drill-hall space, you have to go up a set of stairs,” Avery said. “That presented a barrier that we wanted to remove and so everybody can gain access. We are known as a community-based facility. Most of the time when the community is using the armory, it’s in that auditorium-type space that’s on the second level.”
The total cost for this project is $6.28 million ($3.75 million federal, $2.53 million state). The Ishpeming Armory is one of 33 facilities across Michigan that are targeted for modernization.
The Gladstone armory is also on the list, with $3.41 million in improvements ($2.23 million federal, $1.18 million state). The Kingsford armory is slated for $3.5 million in upgrades (half federal, half state), the Marquette armory will see $7.4 million in improvements (half federal, half state), the Calumet armory will get $2.23 million in enhancements (half federal, half state), and the Sault Ste. Marie armory will get the most: $8.2 million dollars ($5.1 million federal, $3.1 million state).
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