Boardman, OR. — The Oregon National Guard and U.S. Navy broke ground Sept. 9 on a $12 million weapons range that will allow Oregon soldiers to complete required machine gun training without leaving the state.
The Multi-Purpose Machine Gun Range is being constructed at the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility near Boardman. Once completed, it will be Oregon’s first Army-standard range designed for crew-served weapons.
Soldiers will be able to qualify on the M240 machine gun, M2 .50-caliber machine gun and MK19 grenade machine gun at the facility. Oregon Guard members currently travel to training sites in Yakima, Washington, or Boise, Idaho, for those qualifications.
“That travel costs time, costs money, and it pulls our soldiers away from being available here at home when the state needs them most,” Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, Oregon’s adjutant general, said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “This range changes that.”
The project has been under consideration for more than two decades. The departments of the Army and Navy and the Oregon Military Department signed a licensing agreement for the project in August 2004.
The range subsequently appeared on military development plans in 2007, 2015, 2025 and 2026 before advancing to construction. Planning included a six-and-a-half-year environmental review totaling more than 1,400 pages, according to the Oregon National Guard.
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The effort also required coordination among the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, the National Guard Bureau and Oregon Military Department.
“Twenty-two years ago, someone signed a piece of paper that made a promise, a promise that Oregon soldiers would someday train on their own ground for their own state,” Gronewold said. “Today, we break ground on keeping that promise.”
Gronewold said the range will also help prepare the Guard for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program and its 6.8 mm ammunition. Soldiers are expected to begin qualifying on those weapons in the coming years.
Cmdr. Joshua Overn, executive officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the Northwest Training Range Complex, said the facility would improve tactical readiness and soldiers’ proficiency with crew-served weapons.
“Today, we aren’t just turning dirt; we are laying the foundation for the future of our tactical readiness,” Overn said.
Overn delivered remarks on behalf of Capt. Nathan Gammache, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, who was unable to attend. He said the Navy’s partnership with the Oregon Military Department has helped protect military training interests in the Northwest while balancing other land and air uses.
Construction is expected to be completed within the coming year, when officials anticipate holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Attendees at the groundbreaking included retired Maj. Gen. Raymond F. Rees, a former Oregon adjutant general; Boardman City Manager Brandon Hammond; Morrow and Umatilla county commissioners; local police and fire representatives; and staff members representing U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
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