District delivers Fort Lee consolidated dining facility

Posted June 18, 2010
By David Kidd
Norfolk District Public Affairs

06/10/2010 - FORT LEE, Va. — Celebration was in the air at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Fort Lee Garrison Consolidated Dining Facility June 9. The new dining facility will serve as a joint facility for all branches of the armed forces serving at Fort Lee.

The cafeteria opens up to several lines serving a variety of foods including pizza, salad and desert. This new dining facility will accommodate for the increase of airmen and sailors scheduled to train at Fort Lee. Funding for the new facility fell under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC.

According to Headquarters of the Department of the Army, "BRAC is a means by which the Department of Defense (DoD) reconfigures its infrastructure into one where operational capacity is optimized for both warfighting capability and efficiency, and joint activity opportunities are aggressively pursued."

The work taking place at Fort Lee is part of DoD's efforts to reconfigure its infrastructure and to pursue joint activities. The dining facility, which has been open since June 1, is equipped to feed 800 service members per meal every 90 minutes. Food is served buffet-style, similar to a college cafeteria. It is also intended to be a gathering place for group activities.

"This is probably going to be one of the first dining facilities in the Army that will have all the services together working under the same roof and eating in the same facility," said Johnnie Durant, installation food program manager, Fort Lee.

Fred Stokes, former National Football League defensive end, was the guest speaker during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

"This is a great facility, when the military has someone who is a possible recruit they should bring them to this dining facility; showing them where they will be spending 20 to 30 minutes per meal every day." said Stokes. "It's an honor to be here today. I'm always very grateful to the men and women who proudly serve. When I travel I like to always thank them for doing what they do."