EVERETT — Construction began last week on a
$10.2 million training center at Naval Station Everett that will allow
sailors to live here while they’re home from deployment.
The
22,000-square-foot building will include an anti-submarine-warfare
training center, classrooms, office space and other facilities necessary
to equip sailors for their jobs.
Sailors currently must travel
to San Diego and other cities for training. That’s time they could be
spending with their families, said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who
attended the building’s groundbreaking ceremony Friday.
When
sailors are not deployed, they should be able to spend as much time at
home as possible, she said.
“I know they do not need the added
stress of being separated from their families during training,” she
said. “I believe that strong families are good for our military, and
they are critical to military communities like Everett.”
Murray,
along with U.S. Rep. Rick Larson, D-Wash., secured federal funding for
the training center.
“This makes Naval Station Everett more
valuable to the Navy,” Larson said.
He added that about 200 jobs
will be created during the building’s yearlong construction.
Everett
Mayor Ray Stephanson and a panoply of military officials also extolled
the virtues of the new training center.
“Everett loves being a
Navy town, and Everett loves being the sailor’s choice,” Stephanson
said. “That doesn’t happen by accident.”
– Everett Herald
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