Latest Army projections boost Fort Gordon growth to 4,700 personnel (Fort Stewart: 2015, high schools)

[Airforceguy]

Considering just how important cyber security has become in the last few years, I would be surprised if it reached over 5,000. Cyber Command is truly going to be the biggest thing to happen for Augusta since the SRS in the 1950s.

The number of incoming personnel connected to the Army Cyber Command’s relocation to Fort Gordon’s Cyber Center of Excellence and other growing missions will be even greater than the Army originally thought.The latest Army models estimate 4,700 soldiers, federal civilians and contractors will move to Fort Gordon by the end of fiscal year 2019, said J.C. Mathews, the installation’s public affairs officer. Original projections were between 3,700 and 4,000 new personnel.
“All our growth figures and projections start with a baseline year of 2012,” Mathews said. “So when we say ‘growth of 4,700,’ we mean growth that began in 2012 and continues through 2019.”
The updated figures were not connected to the Department of Defense’s announcement last week that nearly all of the nation’s installations will lose troops as the Army draws down its force from 490,000 to 450,000 in two years. Georgia’s Fort Benning and Fort Stewart will lose 3,400 and 950 soldiers, respectively.
Army restructuring numbers showed Fort Gordon adding 41 troops by the end of 2017. Mathews said that accounts for changes to units previously assigned to Fort Gordon through 2017 and does not account for the growth associated with Army Cyber Command.
Fort Gordon has already experienced an influx of new personnel. About 1,700 people arrived between 2012 and 2014, and 600 more are expected in 2015, according to data provided by Mathews.
The growth will peak in fiscal year 2016 when 1,140 are expected. Then, the buildup will taper between 2017 and 2019 to add the remaining 1,300 personnel.
The Army estimates about 7,240 family members including 2,344 school-aged children will relocate with the incoming personnel, Mathews said. Some of those spouses and kids have already moved into the Augusta area with the approximately 2,000 personnel who have arrived.

Latest Army projections boost Fort Gordon growth to 4,700 personnel | The Augusta Chronicle

[therealpattman]

Pretty soon Grovetown will be larger than North Augusta and pushing Aiken. Someone really needs to tell GDOT about this so they can widen I-20 because it's going to get messy.

[Airforceguy]

Not only that, but GDOT needs to add an additional exit in Columbia County at Louisville Road.

[Airforceguy]

The only way I could see Grovetown passing North Augusta in population is if they annex the Gateway area and the areas north of I-20 around Grovetown High and Baker Place.

[columbusgametro]

good thing for fort gordon but a bad thing for fort benning.

[therealpattman]

School officials excited by Fort Gordon's growth | The Augusta Chronicle

http://www.richmond.k12.ga.us/transp...5_23_NoNPU.pdf

I believe this warrants a deeper discussion. I have attached a link to the district map for all Richmond County high schools. Richmond County needs a high school in the southwestern portion of the county near Belair/Jimmie Dyess Pkwy. Josey seems like the odd ball so I would convert the school into a park. All the its students would be split between Glenn Hills, ARC and Laney. A new high school we'll call Belair High School would offset those numbers and make the district more equal in terms of student numbers and more efficient as it relates to transportation. I also like the idea of making every school a specialty school, i.e. Cross Creek - military academy, Davidson - fine arts, A. R. Johnson - health science and engineering, ARC - IB, Laney - school of culinary arts, Glenn Hills - international sports academy, Belair High - cyber security and so forth. I think it would make the district unique and attractive as it would allow students to develop specific skills which could attract more employers, and combine this with different colleges and the possibilities are endless.

[Airforceguy]

That does sound like a good idea, anything to attract more students and jobs to ARC would be good. I also concur with you on the need to build a new high school in southwest Augusta. It's needed considering all of the growth coming to the area.

[Airforceguy]

Maj. Gen. John Morrison and new Fort Gordon garrison commander Col. Todd Turner, both recent replacements in leadership at the Army base, met with Mayor Hardie Davis and several Augusta Commission members in open session Tuesday.
“If you look at where Fort Gordon back when your dad was serving and when you were serving it was an institutional training base,” Morrison said to commissioners, several who are veterans. “Now fast forward to what we are today – one general officer command that is doing operations 24 by 7, 365 and four brigade-colonel-level organizations doing operations 24 by 7, 365 and it’s not just one unit, it’s a joint operational platform.
“That’s a significant change from where we’ve been in the past and you’re only going to see that increase now” with the influx of Army Cyber Command.
Morrison noted that the increase won’t just be service members. About a half will be civilians, contractors whose number depends on Army demands, he said.
“A lot of them are going to be civilians that have a choice,” Morrison said. “A lot of other places are going to be competing for that talent.”
At the meeting, Commissioner Sammie Sias, a retired Army sergeant major, had concerns about the base’s Gate 5.
Fort Gordon encompasses about a quarter of Richmond County’s land mass. Sias lives along Tobacco Road, just outside Gate 5 and represents “a lot of retirees” in the area who need access to the post, he said.

Fort Gordon leaders say post is becoming a world class facility | The Augusta Chronicle