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Above: The Chemical Defense Training Facility, the site where the U.S. Army Chemical School trains its soldiers, using live chemical agents in a highly controlled environment.
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Ft. Leonard Wood as an Economic Asset
Dynamic growth at the “post next door” generates economic benefits for the St. Louis region and serves as a new economic development catalyst.
Last fall, a group of St. Louis business people boarded a C-130 transport plane at the Missouri Air National Guard hangar at Lambert St. Louis International Airport and took a short flight to Fort Leonard Wood. The travelers were members of the RCGA’s military affairs committee. The occasion was a tour of the St. Louis region’s neighboring U.S. Army post. The results were renewed appreciation for the 60-year-old military facility, and admiration for the impressive growth occurring there.
Meeting the delegation, were Maj. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, USA Commander, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center and Fort Leonard Wood; Maj. Gen. John D. Havens, State Adjutant General for the Missouri National Guard; Maj. Gen. Loran C. Schnaidt, Commander, Missouri Air National Guard; Col. David K. Edmonds, USAF/MoANG, Commander, Headquarters 131st Fighter Wing, (Located at Lambert Field); and Col. Mary Ann Seibol, USAF.
“We planned the trip to increase Fort Leonard Wood’s visibility among St. Louis regional businesses, and to drive home the economic importance of this nearby military installation,” explains Flowers. “We also timed the trip to coincide with the significant changes taking place here.”
He’s referring to Fort Leonard Wood’s designation as headquarters for the Total Force’s Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN), which became official in early October. MANSCEN is the result of the Department of the Army, with the support of Congress, closing Fort McClellan, Ala., and moving the U.S. Army’s Chemical and Military Police Schools to Fort Leonard Wood, a four-year, $220 million investment. Also located at Fort Leonard Wood are the U.S. Army’s Engineer School, the Center for Excellence for Homeland Defense (HLD), the headquarters for the 7th Military Support Detachment-Rapid Assessment & Initial Detection(RAID), and one of the largest Noncommissioned Officer Academies in the Army. The 3rd Training Brigade continues to provide basic combat training there.
As a result, today’s Fort Leonard Wood conducts initial entry, advanced, inter-service, interagency and specialty skill training in chemical, engineering, military police and transportation disciplines. Annually, tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, civilians and international students pass through the facility.
One major effect of MANSCEN and the new schools is population growth. “These developments represent a 50 percent increase in our population here,” says Flowers. Currently the post has a daytime population of about 29,000 people. That number is expected to increase by at least another 10,000 in the next two to three years, including Army personnel plus civilians who will supply housing, schools, roads, products and services for a growing population.
“We estimate that here in our own region, Rolla west to Lebanon, we will have about a $500 million impact on the economy, including $225 million in on-base construction and $130 million off-base,” Flowers says. “Without stretching things too much, there’s certainly spin-off to St. Louis.”
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Above: Fort Leonard Wood’s Maneuver and Support Center Plaza. The building serves as the post's headquarters for the Total Force’s Maneuver and Support Center (MANSCEN).
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That spin-off impacts the regional economy in a number of ways. Obviously, less than a two-hour drive away are St. Louis attractions like the Zoo, Six Flags, professional sports, shopping, theater, concerts and more. “The increase in population at Fort Leonard Wood also means the demographics favor more senior officers, who have more mobility and more disposable income to spend in St. Louis,” Flowers says.
Adds trip participant Steve Knarr, manager of architectural services at Horner & Shifrin, “During our tour, it was stressed that besides basic training, the new schools offer much more advanced levels of education. That means higher level military personnel and highly educated people will be coming to St. Louis in their free time.”
Another way St. Louis is affected by Fort Leonard Wood is “just the amount of new-recruit traffic that goes through Lambert International,” Knarr says. “On our visit we learned that new recruits from all over the country go through Lambert and then on to either Fort Leonard Wood or Fort Benning, Ga. for basic training. That generates a certain amount of guaranteed traffic at the airport.”
Another tour member, Jim Erlinger, president of Jim Erlinger Company, points out Lambert is home to the largest airport U.S.O. in the nation. “In fact, every 17th of December is ‘exodus’ when we put thousands of troops through, and a lot of them are coming up from Fort Wood.”
Flowers says the new schools are opening up cooperative educational opportunities, such as degree programs with the University of Missouri–St. Louis. “It has one of the largest criminal justice programs in the nation and that would tie in with our Military Police school,” he says.
In addition, research driven by the new schools provides a variety of opportunities for contractors in St. Louis. For example, several St. Louis area contractors are working with the U.S. Army Engineers School to develop technology that helps locate land mines. Others are developing new sensors in conjunction with the U.S. Army Chemical School to detect biological and chemical agents.
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Above: A mock strip mall located at Stem Village. The mall serves as a realistic training site for military police students.
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Now that MANSCEN is a reality, the next logical step, Flowers says, is “to develop a business/research park here to complement the schools.” MANSCEN officials are working on the project with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the U.S. Department of Defense and the University of Missouri. “Governor Carnahan has made this a priority,” Flowers says.
The model for the project is the successful Missouri Research Park at Weldon Spring; however, the development at Fort Leonard Wood would be the nation’s first business technology park on a military installation. This could potentially save the Army, and as a result, U.S. taxpayers, millions of dollars a year by creating state-of-the-art warehousing and industrial facilities on the military installation. Also, it would give businesses and military suppliers a convenient location to a key customer, and attract more high technology to the area.
The business/research park would also provide much-needed jobs. “Thousands of active-duty military people have spouses who want and need to work,” Erlinger says. “The Fort Leonard Wood area right now is not set up to hire military spouses and local residents.”
At least one trip participant was thrilled to learn of the research park plan. “Our firm was very involved in the initial planning and layout at the Weldon Spring research park,” Knarr says. “So for us it was worth the trip to hear that. My boss has already followed up on it.”
Hopefully, other tour members are following up and spreading the word about what they saw and learned at Fort Leonard Wood. “Everyone on the trip who had been through basic training there was shocked to see how much it has changed, how sophisticated it has become,” Knarr says. “I’m sure they’ll take the message back to their businesses in St. Louis.”
Flowers says he hopes to make the Fort Leonard Wood tour a regular RCGA activity. For those who can’t go to the post, however, the post will come to them through the Fort Leonard Wood Speaker’s Bureau. “We’re working hard to inform everyone about what’s happening here,” Flowers says. “Fort Leonard Wood is not at all the same as you may remember. If you haven’t been here in the past year, you ought to come down. You’ll just be amazed.”
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