Crane Rail Workers Become Army Civilians
Photo By: Thomas Peske
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA dozen Navy rail employees at Naval Support Activity Crane have taken the oath to become Army civilians. The installation says missions have evolved over the last 40 years, adding it "made sense" to have the workers now fall in as Crane Army Ammunition Activity employees.
The U.S. Army took over the conventional munitions mission at the Crane Navy base in 1977. At that time, it formed Crane Army to fulfill the mission of providing munitions readiness to the entire Department of Defense. Crane says, although there are minor differences in Army and Navy rail regulations on a military installations, the employees’ jobs will remain largely the same.
"Crane Army Ammunition Activity houses a quarter of the DOD’s strategic munitions and we’ve relied on the railway to transport them,” says CAAA commander Col. Mike Garlington, CAAA. "Now, with CAAA turning 40 years old yesterday, it’s important to have the railway fall under us as we continue to support our mission and the warfighter."
Fromer Navy heavy mobile equipment maintenance and operations supervisor and now Army plant supervisor Patrick Ash says the transfer makes sense since "the work we do is 100 percent supportive of the Army and this will eliminate the middle man."