State of the Community Breakfast focuses on post-hurricane progress

28 Jan 2020 | Lance Cpl. Ginnie Lee Marine Corps Air Station New River

Leaders from Marine Corps Installations East-Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station New River and the community attended the 25th annual State of Community Breakfast at The Landing All Ranks Club on MCAS New River, North Carolina, Jan. 28, 2020.

The annual event provides leaders the opportunity to share information pertaining to the state of their respective establishments and discuss potential impacts they will have on the local community.

Community leaders discussed a wide array of topics that mostly centered on impacts and actions following Hurricanes Florence and Dorian.

Maj. Gen. Julian D. Alford, commanding general, MCIEAST-MCB Camp Lejeune and Lt. Col. Roger Holliday, director of installation and environment, MCAS New River, discussed planned military construction, renovation, and ongoing efforts to ensure existing buildings are more resilient to handle future natural disasters.

To that end, both military leaders said an influx of contractors to the installation is expected with the new construction and also discussed future requirements for lodging and traffic flow on and off of the bases in the future.

According to Holliday, there are plans for mitigating traffic near the MCAS New River front gate by looking at the timing of commercial and construction traffic coming in and out of the base. Additionally, he said appreciated hearing from each of the agencies represented.

“Having an understanding of exactly where each individual sector of the community stands alone allows for the community as a whole to work in unison to improve the quality of life for service members and their families aboard MCB Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River, as well as the citizens of Jacksonville and Onslow County. The cooperation we have with Onslow County and all of the supporting agencies in the community is absolutely essential both on base and off,” Holliday said.