YAKIMA — A ceremony Friday at the Yakima Training Center celebrated the opening of a new facility for the Army Reserve 88th Readiness Division.
Equipment Concentration Site 10 will serve as a tactical equipment maintenance garage where 36 members of the Army Reserve and contractors will repair and service military equipment.
Maj. Gen. Matthew Baker, commanding general for the 88th Readiness Division, said the opening of ECS-10 marked an expansion years in the making for the Army Reserve after Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma joined to become Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“Right around 2008 when the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) was happening, we started running out of room in the Pacific Northwest,” Baker said. “Where could we establish and have a place to grow and have a future? Yakima was on the radar. It’s a great location and a great city.”