SHERIDAN, Wyo. - In about two years, the Wyoming Army National Guard will no longer have to take their vehicles to the other side of the Big Horn Mountains for maintenance.
Members of the Sheridan area Guard have broken ground on a new 31,000-foot plus vehicle maintenance shop, or VMS, that will be located adjacent to the south side of the current armory, next to Sheridan College.
Currently any military vehicle in Sheridan has to go to the facility in Lovell, Sheridan Media reports.
Last year the Guard had scouted a number of potential sites to build the new facility and even had a trade proposal for Sheridan College, but none of those plans came to be.
Colonel James Ezell is facilities manager of the Wyoming Military Department.
He says once operational, the Guard will experience an almost immediate impact.
“In the grand scheme of things it really keeps this element with the range center and the vehicle maintenance shop, it keeps those folks together and that’s one thing I think is going to really add training value that the VMS has already a center right here and this is also where the officer in charge is based out of, so that communication gap that we’ve had before, when this VMS was down in Lovell, that completely eliminates that issue and the VMS is going to be right here,” Ezell said.
Ezell adds when finished, the new facility will have 3-to-4 maintenance bays, and sometimes the Guard unit from Gillette will be able to come to Sheridan to participate in some joint training.
