Tucked between White Hall and the Arkansas River in the Jefferson County piney woods, one of the nation's most under-the-radar military installations is due to receive some love. Infrastructure love. Which is the only kind of love military installations require.
Built by the U.S. Army at the start of World War II to make incendiary grenades and bombs, the Pine Bluff Arsenal serves as a munitions tech center and is the only spot in the northern hemisphere where white phosphorous munitions are filled. (For those who wonder why the military would need white phosphorous grenades, a military type says they are excellent for ruining equipment that you might have to leave behind in a retreat. Or ruining other things the enemy might find on the battlefield. Such a grenade also makes a lot of smoke, so it can mask movements as long as the wind holds.)
The arsenal also produces "specialized ammunition" and provides support (and storage) for the America's Joint Warfighter program. About 740 civilians and military types work there, and thousands of other Arkansans are glad of it.
Over the past half-century, its profile may have been lowered on a national scale (and to a degree within Arkansas), but its mission remains important.
Fulfilling its mission should be made easier with the recent passage of the $858 billion federal defense bill, $1.8 million of which went to the arsenal. With assists by a couple of Arkansas senators.
The money will be spent on redoing the base's outdated 1942 Plainview Gate. The entrance will get modern security, our sister paper in Jefferson County reports.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers out of Little Rock will oversee the Plainview Gate project. But more needs to be done. Two-lane roads leading into the 13,493-acre facility need to be repaved and/or widened, and the removal and replacement of an almost 80-year-old bridge on one of them is a priority. The Arkansas Department of Transportation is already at work on some elements of the needed road rehab leading up to the arsenal.
Some fixes are easy, some aren't. In total, local officials estimate it'll cost almost $13 million to fund the work that's needed.
Larry Wright, a military affairs consultant and former deputy commander at the arsenal, told the paper that the redo of the Plainview Gate will take the place one step closer to becoming a major military manufacturing center.
The Pine Bluff Arsenal used to carry a certain degree of fame--or infamy, depending on one's point of view. It was one of nine Army installations in the U.S. to house chemical weapons. It no longer does--President Nixon banned the making of chemical weapons in 1969 after public outcry concerning Agent Orange. The facility's profile has since been lowered.
But its work rolls on, and the work performed by its 700-plus civilian and military employees remains vital to U.S. defense efforts. Like it or not, defense of the country requires the production weapons and weapons systems.
Mr. Wright, who also works with the city of White Hall, says other funding will be pursued to complete the rehab of the entrance approach. Here's hoping he finds them.