Camp Atterbury has dedicated its new, large north barracks to the former governor who was critical in getting it built.
Indiana National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger dedicated the north barracks complex to former Gov. Mitch Daniels on Friday. Daniels helped facilitate a major land exchange that allowed Camp Atterbury to get 1,200 acres of land, part of which now houses the new barracks complex.
Camp Atterbury opened the facility, which included large dormitories and a new mess hall, in September. The barracks added an additional 1,200 beds to the military base near Edinburgh, which is allowing Camp Atterbury to host larger training events for the military. The project was part of an $86 million improvement at the base, which also included an upgraded rail yard.
In 2010, Indiana Department of Natural Resources gave the land to Camp Atterbury in exchange for 2,000 acres from Indiana Department of Correction at the Putnamville Correctional Facility. The land swap allowed Camp Atterbury to reclaim some of the original area from the base’s earliest days in operation.
“Special forces, civilian law enforcement and first responders, all branches of our military, as well as militaries of other countries, train here regularly. They have some of the best possible resources this country can provide,” Umbarger said in a news release. “If not for the support and leadership of Mitch Daniels, they just would not have this.”
Daniels, now the president of Purdue University, praised the work done daily by the Indiana National Guard in protecting the United States as well as the economic impact the Atterbury-Muscatatuck project has brought to southern Indiana.
