CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah —
The Utah National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) will held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly built Staff Sgt. Aaron Rhett Butler Special Forces Readiness Center, at 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 9, 2019 at Camp Williams.
This state-of-the-art building has been in the works for the past 10 years, and broke ground for construction on Oct. 17, 2017. It has been built by Jacobsen Construction of Salt Lake City, at a cost of $39 million. The more than 140,000-square-foot facility will serve as the administrative building, classroom building and main training and operations space for the 19th Special Forces Group Headquarters and 1st Battalion, 19th SFG (A). The project will not officially be completed until the end of September.
The building is dedicated to Staff Sgt. Aaron R. Butler who was killed in action on Aug. 16, 2017, while engaging with the enemy in Afghanistan. The loss of Butler reminds us that the focus of the 19th SFG (A) is to provide quality training to each service member, in preparation to defend the U.S. and free the oppressed in far reaches of the world.
The 19th SFG (A) is growing to become one of the largest major commands in Utah. The 19th SFG (A) originally constituted in the Utah National Guard on May 1, 1960 and enjoys a long and successful history as one of only two National Guard Special Forces Groups in the nation. Its unique mission, capabilities and unit cohesiveness have been demonstrated may times around the globe. From its earliest exercises in the Republic of Korea to the continuing War on Terrorism, the Soldiers of the 19th SFG (A) continue to be a relevant asset to international defense initiatives while also being leaders in their respective local communities.
The armory employs approximately 120 full-time personnel and hosts more than 600 Soldiers every month for training.
MAJ D.J. Gibb, the Utah National Guard PAI initially prepared this report as a media advisory.
I hope the construction quality and expected longevity for this National Guard facility is better than the POS, flimsy structures recently thrown up for new Army Reserve centers.
Congrats on a great HQ building .
My father a WW2 Vet tried to join the 19th SFG mid 1960s.
He took me to Camp Williams to take the Airborne PT Test
He passed and was sent to Ft Benning and before
He finished he became very I’ll and had to return home. His
Desire to become SF instilled my attention to Special Forces. After High school at Tooele High I enlisted for Airborne/Communications At Jump school I volunteered for Special Forces and passed the pre Selection test. NOV 1967. I served 23.5 years with different SF Units and 2 tours Vietnam. During my career I had the privilege to have served and trained with some of the 19th SF and 20th . I will visit Camp Williams next time I am in Utah. I retired 1990 Team Sergeant 1st SF Group FT Lewis Wa. Congrats again on getting a new facility and thank all of you for serving our country.
So true.
IL Army Reservist; our building recently sprung a leak that resulted in mold which contaminated our cages/arms room, and made the entire building un-inhabitable. They expect it to be uninhabitable for a year+ due to litigation.
The kicker? The building was new construction, it just opened for business in 2016.
Three years old, moldy and contaminated.
Another fun one: right after it opened, there were a number of bathrooms that were single seaters, but had no locks on the doors. A number of soldiers got an eyeful of coworkers; sergeant major quickly amended his “nothing allowed to be taped or pinned to walls” rule to allow a occupied/empty tag system to be mounted on the doors.
Readiness Center opening. Attended by Indigenous Forces. (2019, Colourized).
The Patriots of Pineland were there
Not enough grass to stay off of.