10th Division will train at Seneca Depot

The 10th Mountain Division will start to use Seneca Army Depot, Waterloo, for combat training. And the training could start as early as next month.

The two-year license has been in the works for about a year and will open up approximately 3,500 acres of land for training purposes. The depot was closed in 2000 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure proceedings that were started in 1995, said Robert J. Aronson, executive director of the Seneca County Economic Development Corp.

"We've been trying to redevelop the depot for some time," he said. "The services they offer will help enhance the depot, like roads and infrastructure work that we need but can't afford."

The training exercises would bring up to 1,500 soldiers, about half the size of a brigade combat team, to the depot at a time for driving training and air and combat operations. While Fort Drum has established training ranges, the terrain at the depot is much more suited for urban combat training.

"The depot's setting and infrastructure — with its vast acreage, network of roads, working airfield, warehouses and other buildings — allows us to better train and prepare our military personnel," said Lt. Col. John W. Penree, the coordination officer for off-site training at Fort Drum.

The deal was announced Thursday afternoon by the Seneca County Economic Development Corp. Fort Drum soldiers could train at the depot from two to 21 days at a time. The soldiers would practice escape and evade exercises and aerial training to prepare for troop transport and medical evacuations.

Mr. Aronson predicts that repairing roads and buildings on the depot also will help the soldiers prepare for a nation-building mission in Iraq or Afghan-

istan.

"The driving conditions they will experience here might not be something that they would otherwise be able to enjoy before going overseas," he said.