FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- A huge black anchor, two brass propellers and flagpole with yardarm mark the newest addition to this sprawling Army post - a Navy Reserve Center.
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"We're very happy to be here. The Army has been very good to us," said Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Badders, the center's commanding officer. "We are looking forward to the opportunity to train and work together."
The $4.1 million center is designed to coordinate the support activities and monthly drills for some 300 Navy reservists in central South Carolina.
This Army-Navy convergence has been in the works for several years but got a renewed push given the military's post-Sept. 11 security concerns. It also offers a way for the Pentagon to save money, Badders said.
"Not only do we benefit by having the Army provide the protection of armed sentries, we have the chance to learn from each other. It's getting more and more important to learn to work as a team - to learn to conduct warfare jointly," Badders said.
The commander said she was aware of several other reserve centers in the Southeast that are making or contemplating making similar moves to Army, Air Force or Marine posts in their vicinity.
Navy reservists coming to the center at Fort Jackson range from specialists in the medical, communication, cargo handling or Seabee construction fields, Badders said.
Besides the computer-assisted training offered at the center, some reservists may be able to conduct their monthly drills alongside Army soldiers at Fort Jackson. This might be possible for medical reservists or security units. Some cargo specialists may go to Charleston to assist in loading military cargo vessels, Badders said.
The 42-year-old commander, from Largo, Fla., said the Navy's previous center was in a 56-year-old building in downtown Columbia that was badly in need of renovation. Given the need for reservists to use the Navy's latest computer training methods, it made more sense to build a new center from the ground up, the commander said.
It took about $500,000 to outfit the building and provide the latest in high-tech computer systems, she said.
The Navy's computer-assisted learning systems allow reservists to keep up-to-date with active duty sailors and provide much-needed support when they are called to active duty, Badders said.
Besides offices for her 16-member support staff, the new center includes a large training hall that seats several hundred; a 96-seat auditorium outfitted for computer lectures; a formal conference room with video-teleconference capabilities; a media center training room and several small conference rooms for individual training.
The commander said her khaki uniform and Navy insignia often prompt questions from soldiers at this huge fort who may be unfamiliar with naval ways.
"They ask me, 'What's a lieutenant commander?"' said Badders, explaining her rank was comparable to an Army major and comes from the naval tradition of training an officer to take over the command of a ship.
Badders said residents of Fort Jackson, where nearly 50,000 soldiers train annually, have been very open to the Navy way of doing things - including sharing their differing nomenclature.
"They have been very helpful, welcoming us aboard," Badders said.
