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| Rep. Thelma Drake, Special Operations Command - Joint
Forces Command's (SOCJFCOM) Army Spc. Andrea Smiley and
U.S. Joint Forces Command Deputy Commander Army Lt. Gen.
Bob
Wood
cut the ribbon for the new headquarters for SOCJFCOM
in a ceremeony Dec. 10, 2007. (Click on this official
photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Joe Laws to dowload a high-resolution
copy.) |
Ribbon
cut for new SOCJFCOM headquarters
Government
and military personnel, as well as Rep. Thelma Drake
(R-Va.), gathered in Suffolk, Va. for a ribbon-cutting
ceremony to mark the opening of a new facility for the
Special Operations Command Joint Forces Command,
which serves
as the DoD's primary joint special operations forces trainer
and integrator, supporting all geographic combatant commands
and joint task forces.
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By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs
(SUFFOLK,
Va. – Dec. 10, 2007) –- Government
and military personnel, as well as Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.),
gathered in Suffolk, Va. today for a ribbon-cutting ceremony
to mark the opening of a new Special
Operations Command-Joint Forces Command (SOCJFCOM) Headquarters.
SOCJFCOM is a sub-unified command of U.S. Joint Forces
Command (USJFCOM) and serves as the DoD's primary joint
special operations forces (SOF) trainer and integrator,
supporting all geographic combatant commands and joint
task forces.
Drake commended the SOCJFCOM employees and stressed the
importance of their work.
“It’s extremely critical to us that everyone
work in a joint manner,” she said. “We’re
very proud of that and know it can be difficult at times,
but we know that your doing that and that your facility
is training our special operations forces, our warfighters
in order to go out and do what they do best. We’re
very proud and grateful to you for what you do.”
Army Col. Wesley Rehorn, commander of SOCJFCOM, explained
how the new facility, located inside the Joint Training
and Exploration Center (JTEC), can benefit the command.
“This
facility not only allows SOCJFCOM to be better located
to integrate with the Joint
Warfighting Center and the Joint
Concept Development and Experimentation [Directorate],
but also with JCOA
[Joint Center for Operational Analysis],” he
said. “With the change of the command’s mission
in 1997, SOCJFCOM has stayed at about the same manpower,
even though we’ve had a larger role in the global
war on terrorism and this new facility will allow us to
expand to meet those requirements.”
Previously, the command had worked on Naval Station Norfolk.
Drake,
USJFCOM Deputy Commander Army
Lt. Gen. John R. Wood,
and SOCJFCOM’s Army Spc. Andrea Smiley cut
the ribbon signifying the official opening of the Headquarters.
Wood
also said the new location will help with mission success.
“It puts SOCJFCOM in the physical setting that’s
worthy of the service they provide,” he said. “It’s
near new buildings, a modern setting and much better with
regard to their ability to execute their mission.
Other distinguished guests for the ribbon-cutting included
the Director of Joint Training and Commander of the Joint
Warfighting Center (JWFC), Army
Maj. Gen. Jason K. Kamiya,
and the Deputy Commander of the JWFC, Army
Maj. Gen. John McClaren, as well as former commanders of SOCJFCOM, who
helped cut the ceremonial cake.
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