Utah National Guard opens readiness center

SALT LAKE CITY(Deseret News) — Over the years, the members of the Utah National Guard's 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion have been bounced from Ogden to Draper to Camp Williams, moving out to make way for more equipment-intensive units that require the extra space.

That nomadic existence came to a close with the recent opening of the $12 million Salt Lake Readiness Center, which will be home to that unit as well as members of the 118th Sapper (Engineer) Company and the 85th Civil Support Team.

In a celebratory ceremony Tuesday that included remarks by Gov. Gary Herbert and Adjutant Gen. Brian Tarbet, the 54,000-square-foot training facility was hailed as a decade-old milestone achieved by the collaborative efforts of congressional leaders, state leaders and the hard work of the Utah National Guard itself.

"This was undertaken by people who saw the need and accepted the call to get things done," Herbert said, calling the event a "red-letter" day for the guard.

Noting his own six years in the Utah National Guard serving out of Provo, Herbert said he hoped the facility becomes a visible part of the Salt Lake and north Davis county communities and becomes a recruitment tool as residents watch guard members come and go from the building.

It is his hope, he stressed, that residents will want to embrace the values the guard exemplifies and taught to him: discipline, duty, honor and teamwork.

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