Dozens of camoflauged-covered trucks sit outside the Maryland National Guard armory in Dundalk, waiting for oil changes, new tires and much-needed maintenance.
“Short on work? The National Guard is never short on work,” said Army Spc. Remun Stinette, 33, of Middle River, a mechanic with the Guard.
But with a new, 20,000-square-foot, $7.1 million maintenance shop in Dundalk, the Guard now has a top-of-the-line ? and environmentally friendly ? facility to catch up on back work.
“As these vehicles get older, it is even more critical to have a facility such as this,” said Brig. Gen. James Adkins, adjunct general of the Maryland Guard, who joined other officials to dedicate the new shop Thursday.
The new facility comes as the Maryland Guard updates and builds new facilities in Salisbury, Olney and Adelphi, Adkins said.
The Guard manages more than 3,000 acres in Maryland, including airfields, armories and training centers.
The facility at the Guard armory on North Point Road replaces a 50-year-old shop across the property that did not have the capabilities to lift large engines or hold many vehicles at once.
“This is amazing for us. We can do everything we need here instead of having to use other shops for our work,” said Pfc. Amy Elder, 26, of Glen Burnie.
The new shop will service 275 vehicles of the Guard?s fleet – some of which recently returned from assisting military efforts in Iraq – that belong to 15 units of the Guard.
The shop’s overhead crane can lift more than 7 tons. It also features work benches equipped with electricity and other needed equipment as well as enough space for mechanics to service several large trucks at once.
The building earned a silver rating of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard and has an underground stormwater tank that captures rain runoff and cleans it before releasing it back into the watershed.
