On this 4th of July weekend, we are taking a closer look at the workhorse of Arsenal Island, the Joint Munitions and Technology Center known as JMT.

We'll.

Our host today is the staff at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

This 4th of July marks the 120th birthday of this museum.

The second oldest U.S. military museum behind West Point.

It is best known for documenting the island's history as a supplier of guns, weaponry, and other munitions to the United States Army.

And coming up in a few minutes.

We'll give you a tour of this museum and will be joined by the museum's director.

But first we're joined by the commander of the Joint Munitions and Technology Center at Arsenal Island, JMC commander Colonel David Gaeta.

He leads the huge metal manufacturing center here on the island.

It encompasses 30 buildings, 3,000,000ft of space.

And at any given time, JMC has 150, 200, maybe even 300 projects running through the factory.

We talked with Colonel Gaeta about the enormous impact of JMC here on our Arsenal Island.

tell me the role of the GMT.

The.

So the Joint Manufacturing Technology Center is basically one of the arsenals in the organic industrial base.

The Army has 23 different, depots, arsenals and ammo plants.

We're one of three arsenals.

So there's Pine Bluff Arsenal, there's Watervliet Arsenal, and then there's the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center.

And we're a vertically integrated metal manufacturing facility, with the Army Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing as well.

It is a vital part of Arsenal Island.

As a matter of fact, when you think of Arsenal Island, you do really think of the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center.

Absolutely.

And and that was kind of the genesis of the whole island.

You know, there's other commands that are here now, and they're all extremely important commands that have a real impact on the nation.

But the heart of the island has always been the manufacturing capabilities.

And back when they had the Brac eliminations, there was almost the fear of leaving Arsenal Island at one point.

It has really prospered in the last few years.

Yeah, it's been great.

I think we've recognized as a military the capabilities, and we've pushed a little bit harder in those capabilities.

The Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence has gotten a lot of attention.

So we're on the cutting edge of a lot of technology.

Which is which is definitely helped, but that's, still a relatively small part of a really large metal manufacturing capability.

We have everything from, you know, building the gun turrets for the m1A1 that you could see here at Rock island's museum that we brought in, all the way up to armor, and everything down to as small as a firing pin or a spring.

We can do it all across that because you have, what, some 300 products that you might be making at one time?

Yeah.

At any given time, there's probably somewhere between 150 and 200 products running through.

But that cycle's changing all the time.

So there's a lot of different products we're making for, not only the Army, but the entire Department of Defense.

We have several Navy projects.

What we have that, is unique to the Army.

We're the only foundry in the Army.

So we are able to pour liquid metal, do castings and forgings, which is a capability that the in the entire nation has really seen a lot of, reduction in that capability.

So we provide that for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, whoever needs it in so many ways.

That's old school.

It's very old school.

That's the way we do it.

Although it's paired old school with new technology softwares like Magma Soft, that help us to model how that liquid metal is going to be going in.

We're working on making sure that we can regulate the pour flows and lots of different technologies into that with sensors to be able to make sure we can do a repeatable process every time.

But it is a very old technology.

There is manufacturing precision and then there's military precision.

Everything you do has to be at a certain level.

That's correct.

So it's it's funny, the old adage good enough for government work used to actually be because the government work is at such a higher level, and that that adage is kind of gone the other way.

But it's absolutely true.

So we do everything to a print, to a drawing, you know, a complicated thing like the M1, gun cradle that that's 20 some parts that are all welded together with, when you add weld to something, you have to worry about porosity and metal changing shapes, with a bunch of thousands of tolerances all over it.

So, you know, one sixth of the human hair is how tight you have to have those tolerances.

So it's very precision work well, and you talked about the foundry.

Let's talk about the real cutting edge.

And that's your 3D technology.

It was brought to the island, under great fanfare about a three, maybe four years ago.

It has since, won accolades even last year.

Tell me how important, first off, the technology is and how much it's it's a game changer.

Sure.

So, the technology that I believe you're referring to is our joint loss Hull printer, which, at last check, was the world's largest 3D hybrid free form printer.

Metal printer.

It is game changing technology.

Basically what it does, is it's going to be able to produce a forged quality print.

What makes it really unique is its print bed.

So, we're in the end of or in phase one of a four phase operation to get up to full capability.

So we're we're still not quite to where it's a production, machine, but we're moving in that direction.

Without getting into any to too many specifics and bore you with metallurgy, the bottom line is we think this summer will bring in 7000 series aluminum, which is a forged quality.

And then we'll be able to do some production runs for different parts, and there's a lot of interest in that area.

So.

So when you say for different parts, what are we looking at?

I mean, is the sky the limit?

Well, the sky's the limit within the, the print bed.

Right.

So right now we're printing about five by five parts in 6000 series aluminum.

And again this summer when we get to 7000, you could look at a lot of aircraft parts, a big effort that the JMC is right on the back end of is, getting is 9100, which is a quality management system for the aerospace industry.

Typically, the JMC has been ISO 9001, which is an industry standard for quality management.

But Ace 9100 is like the next level for aircraft.

We just got recommended for certification, which is a big deal for us.

It's been on and off for about 15 years.

The JMC is considered doing this, and now we just got certified.

When we have that certification, we can make things for aircraft.

So, you know, the big aircraft companies that you're talking about as well as across the military, we now have the capability to be able to produce readiness for them.

And as I mentioned earlier, with the casting and forging reduction that's going across most of the nation, we can fill those gaps and those supply challenges for a lot of not only private industry, but also the military.

One of the other big things, as far as making sure that Arsenal Island remain vibrant, was kind of the private public partnerships that were ongoing.

Tell me about, the progress on that.

So we're always interested in and anywhere we can have partnerships.

So, in generalities, I would say that any time that we can find a private industry that's willing to help us be better at our job, and that we can help them to move forward into some of these spaces we're all in.

And it's something that we're interested in doing.

So there are multiple private public private partnerships at JMC, and we're always open for more.

I do think it helps, increase the viability.

And it not only brings our expertise, but also private industries expertise so that we can better, better support the Department of Defense.

Tell me about the vibrancy of MTC.

Because like you said, you're always look for new work, you're finding new products to make, and you're finding new ways to make it with an incredible workforce that you have here on the island.

That's correct.

So we have, about 750 employees that are, absolute artisans.

As we continue to start new programs or develop new programs, we do a very good job of trying to make sure that we gain all the lessons learned.

We're able to, use our quality management systems as 9100, for example, to save those processes and be able to repeat it.

And then that work, we can always compete for that work in the future as well, which is good.

I think one of the interesting things that people remember was, during the war in Iraq and when the IEDs were, exploding under the Humvees that weren't protected here, and they turned to the Rock Island arsenal, to, reinforce the bottoms, actually save lives.

But I think there was a lot of pride at JMC for have done that.

Yes, absolutely.

And as a user of that, you know, I, I did three tours to Iraq as a, company great officer and definitely rode around in, vehicles that the JMC had done the add on armor for at the time.

And we knew that and we cared about it.

And MTC still has a lot of, like you said, a lot of pride in the fact that they've met the nation's call.

And in that particular circumstance, really very responsive to be able to provide life saving armor, for our soldiers.

And I bring that up also because in so many ways, MTC has to be flexible.

It has to be able to meet a need at a moment's notice.

And so tell me the importance of that.

Just your ability to adapt.

So I think that depending on the senior leader in the Army, they've referenced, the entire organic industrial base to include JMC is basically the nation's insurance policy.

And there's something to be said about that, because what I can do, I'm, I'm not necessarily interested in, you know, trying to turn a profit, like a lot of private industry, as if the if the nation needs something, I can swing my workforce in that direction and be able to drive and produce readiness when we need it.

And among your workers, I mean, when we're talking about pride, there's got to be a great pride at that as well.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's there is, I'm not exactly sure how to best describe it.

You can feel it if you walk around on the floor.

A lot of efforts with, the connection between the soldier and what the artisans are doing on the floor is very strong.

And we've done a few things over the past year and a half, to try to continue to grow that connection, from everything as simple as if if you're working on a part, you might not know what that part is.

And there's several, efforts that we've done to build, awareness across the workforce.

So, be able to ask an employee, hey, what are you working on?

And their answer can be, I'm.

I'm building a M1 tank today, you know, and that's a lot of power to to understand that you're building, you know, that combat vehicle for soldiers to be in.

So all of those different parts across the board, we talk about, the work that you're still trying to find and the partnerships that you're still trying to make.

Tell me about the future of MTC here at the Island.

The future is great.

So I mean, we're going to continue to produce readiness for the nation.

We're excited to be able to do it.

And, I'm actually coming up on a change of command.

The new commander will be coming in July.

He is excited to be here, Colonel Eloy Martinez.

And he will drive the organization even further.

But he's got a great team there.

My my deputy, my leadership team.

And all my directors will continue to make sure that the MTC is doing great things for the Army.

Your three year tour in Rock Island will be over at that point.

Tell me about your three years here.

So my first year I was with Army Sustainment Command, which was a great organization that has a huge impact on on soldiers across the Army.

The MTC is actually part of the Army's tank, Automotive and Armaments Command.

Take them.

So my higher headquarters is actually in Michigan right now in Warren, Michigan.

And another awesome organization to be a part of just on the cutting edge of technology.

Basically anything a soldier rides around, wears or eats or shoots, the take on is involved in it.

So it's really neat to be at the strategic level, having such an impact on soldiers across the entire formation.

Anything about the Quad Cities that you'll remember and take away with you?

Well, I've enjoyed the Quad Cities for sure.

I'm actually kind of an outdoors guy, so it's been need to be able to, you know, have the Mississippi River right here, can do some fishing there.

There's a lot of great foraging and a great hunting in the area.

And I know for my wife, who likes, some of the city stuff, there's plenty of that across the Quad Cities.

It's actually a lot.

It's it feels a lot smaller than it is, if that makes sense.

Like these little cities coming together, really provide a neat community.

And they've been super welcoming and a great partnership with, the Rock Island Arsenal, Red Lodge here, which has been important.

Our thanks to Colonel David Gaeta, commander of the Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center here on our island.

And still to come, a closer look at this.

The Rock Island Arsenal Museum, which is marking this year's 250th birthday of the US Army as it prepares for its own birthday.

But first, a look at area events on this 4th of July weekend.

Thanks to visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by boarding the Celebration Bell Captain's Dinner Cruise on July 1st, then head over to Modern Woodmen Park to see the River bandits in action.

Next, start your 4th of July weekend off right by catching the fireworks show at Red, white and boom!

Then head over to Mercato on fifth for good food and live music.

And finally head to the QC Farmer's Market on July 5th in downtown Rock Island.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at visit Quad cities.com.

Welcome to the Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

Now, this year marks 120 years since the museum was established.

The second oldest museum just behind West Point.

Now, it was slated actually to be shut down in 2016, but survived.

And after a three year renovation was reopened in 2023.

And we're joined by Rock Island Arsenal museum director Patrick Ali.

So we're marking the Army's 250th right now.

But this museum is marking 120 years on July 4th.

I mean, it's the second oldest museum of its time.

Yeah.

So we're we're incredibly excited right now to be celebrating 120 years of the museum and its mission to tell the history of Rock Island Arsenal and the military presence on this arsenal.

Tell me about, the changing, views of this museum.

You went through a major renovation, and it also was not only changing it physically, but the way you look at this museum changed as well.

No, I most certainly did.

So, you know, this museum has been around for 120 years, so it's gone through several iterations.

It has been reshaped, remade, reimagined a multitude of times.

We've been the Ordnance Museum at Rock Island Arsenal, we've been the John in Browning Museum, we've been the Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

And through time, this museum has shifted and changed to tell the current story through a historic lens.

And so in 2023, we reopened after a three year renovation.

Truly a floor to ceiling reimagining.

To get back to what our mission is, which is to interpret the history of this island through the lens of the people, the products and the processes that have called Rock Island Arsenal home, because that's a big deal.

I think in the past it was just here's a bunch of armaments.

A bunch of military buffs are going to enjoy this, but you wanted to tell a more nuanced story.

We did.

So we wanted we wanted to provide the context to the general public to allow them to come into our space and learn about the U.S. military, learn about what the Army has done in a way that connects with them personally.

And I have found in my experience that the best way to do that is through people's stories.

Put a name to it.

Put a story to it.

An artifact is great, but an artifact exists within a context.

It has to have provenance.

It has to have a history.

And through that history is how we tell those broader, nuanced sort of stories.

Well, and this island has had an amazing history.

I mean, you go back even to the Civil War, where it was a, confinement area, for, Confederates, which is the whole reason behind the Confederate cemetery.

Of course.

And also that you had an African-American battalion that was serving here as well.

Yeah.

So and that's one of the great stories, that fits within that larger, history of Rock Island Arsenal and just this island in general.

You know, the history of this island goes all the way back to the local Native Americans who this was really like a summer resort for them.

And so this island has connected with, not just not just U.S. history, but all of history and in a variety of different ways.

And the Civil War is no different.

There's actually a really great duality at that time, because the Arsenal, at least on paper, had been established by 1862.

And so you have a commander of an arsenal that's not truly an arsenal, operating here at the same time as you have the prisoner of war camp.

And then in turn, you have this regiment that comes here in September of 1864, the 108th U.S Colored Troops.

You asked that you referenced, freemen, former enslaved from the state of Kentucky, guarding, guarding those that were fighting for keeping them enslaved.

An absolutely incredible kind of juxtaposition, of stories existing right here.

But since then, I mean, it really was a true arsenal of the American military.

I mean, you got the big guns behind you, you got the small armaments as well.

I mean, this has been a huge munitions plant.

Yeah.

So, you know, this facility is is truly America's arsenal in so many ways.

You know, when it was originally envisioned, it was actually supposed to be the national armory to replace all others, Watervliet, Springfield, Picatinny, all of the arsenals that existed.

The intent at one time was actually to consolidate all of those activities here.

And so this arsenal was built to support that.

So we had from the get go the capabilities to produce everything, soldier carried from his boots to his hat, every piece of equipment that he worked on.

You know, that was the envisioning for Rock Island Arsenal now, you know, never truly came to fruition.

Probably the closest we got was the Spanish-American War of 1898.

But ultimately, you know, those capabilities, the the ability for the arsenal to make all of these things, you know, still endures today.

Well, the other interesting thing is that, I mean, some of those you mentioned, some of the arsenals that are across America are just kind of there.

This is an island.

I mean, you plucked, right?

I don't know how else to say it.

Yeah.

You're plucked right in the middle of the Mississippi River.

It doesn't flood here because of, the way the island stands.

Yeah.

This is an amazing geographic area.

It is, it is.

And, you know, it's part of the reason why the arsenal is here.

You know, when the Arsenal was established in 1862.

You know what we take for granted on an everyday basis?

Electricity wasn't powering machinery.

And so it's truly, you know, a symbiotic relationship between the arsenal and the river, not just in the way that the river has powered the arsenal over time, but also it is a transportation network to move all of these goods, materials, men, supplies, you know, up and down the river to the east, to the west and everywhere in between.

Let's talk about some of the exhibits that you have here.

Is there any that particularly strike you or or that you've noticed that when people come in, there's the you and the, at that moment that you were looking for when you were putting this all together?

Yeah.

So we have a we have several well, we have many key artifacts.

We have a collection on site of over 8000 artifacts that tell the history of Rock Island Arsenal and about 300 of those are on the floor in our court exhibits.

But the ones that stand out, first and foremost is our Springfield Model 1903 serial number one.

So it is a Springfield 1903.

That's the model.

They originally produced at Springfield Armory, Massachusetts.

Rock Island was chosen as a secondary location for production in 1904.

It is the first one to come off the line in the room you're sitting in right now.

This is where part of the assembly was for that rifle.

It came off the line here and was immediately put into the museum, which used to be across the street from where we're sitting right now.

So it has never left 100 yards of where it sits.

So that's a pretty incredible piece to be the first one to come, first one of anything to come off the line here at Rock Island.

We also tying it back to, you know, 250 years of the Army's history.

We have a wall gun that was produced at Rappahannock Forge during the American Revolution.

Truly, as a set off point in the exhibits to talk about Army manufacturing, the army making things for itself.

A story that we are the only Army museum telling it.

We're the only ones talking about about army manufacturing.

And then lastly, we have a rifle that was recovered from the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

What we know is Custer's last stand.

It was recovered by an Army team that went in after the battle.

And part of that, that team's work was gathering up all of these artifacts and things from the battle to write a report.

And that report would actually lead to what we know today is the Army's marksmanship program, because we one of our lessons learned, which is a great Army phrase, is that we were providing our soldiers with rifles that could be accurately aimed and fired, but we weren't training them to do so and to bring it all back around, to have a target or to have a marksmanship program.

You need a rifle, you need powder.

You need a soldier, need to target.

Guess where they started printing those targets in 1881 right here at Rock Island Arsenal?

Yes.

Where they print all targets for the joint force today.

Rock Island Arsenal.

I think people don't know that.

No.

And let's be honest, I mean, I think, people in the Quad Cities haven't been here.

I would agree.

So what do you tell to somebody who's watching this who may think, oh, it's hard to get here.

It's it's so closed off because it's on the island.

Yeah.

And I think that's, that's a misconception in, in the general area, within across the Quad Cities.

But it's actually very easy to get here.

So they offer now one year recreation passes.

All you need to do is show your gold star real ID.

They will issue a one year pass, and then you can come to the island.

You can come visit the museum, you can visit the Mississippi River Visitor Center, which interprets the history of the lock and dam, great views of boats walking through, the Colonel Davenport House.

And there's also just a variety of recreational activities across the arsenal.

You can bike, you can golf.

You can utilize all of the different amenities we have here.

We really want this to be the community's arsenal in so many ways.

And it really is a very, you know, five minute or less process to make that happen.

When somebody walks through these exhibits and gets ready to leave, what do you want them to walk away with?

I want them to walk away with the sense that, every community and, you know, we obviously focus on the Quad Cities community, but, you know, we think of the US military is as this, it's out there, you know, it's it's preserving America's values.

It's fighting for us across the globe.

But it's a really local story.

That's what I want people to walk away with that.

You know, Rock Island Arsenal is is very unique in so far that we have multiple generations of people who have worked here.

I have folks that come in all the time.

My grandma, my great grandma worked here.

And so one of my favorite things is when people come through and they're like, yeah, my grandma, you know, she worked here during World War two.

I saw, you know, this part of the exhibit.

And she did that, or she worked in, you know, she worked in the, building to 99, moving supplies around, doing shipping, receiving.

And so for me, people being able to make a personal connection to the story we tell, because in that way, they're making a personal connection to the U.S. Army in the U.S. military.

It makes it much more relevant, makes it much more, you know, in the moment.

Our thanks to Rock Island Arsenal museum director Patrick Ali.

Now Wqpt is marking the upcoming 250th birthday of our nation by asking people in the cities about their civic spark why the work they do is their passion.

And we pose that question to Rock Island Arsenal, Joint Munitions and Technology Center commander, Colonel David Guida and Colonel Gaeta.

What is your civic spark?

So I enlisted in the Army in 1998.

I'd already been to college.

Had a double major in psychology and English literature and a minor in philosophy, which is not a lot of, you know, I could bartend for fight Forest Fires, do things like that with it.

But I've always had a draw to military service.

My father served.

My my father's father, my uncle, a lot of military service across the board.

And, I think that if we're part of this nation and we're reaping the benefits of this nation, the least I can do is service.

And service was really important.

I got into the Army, realized very quickly that I loved it.

And have done 27 years almost now, so it's been great.

Rock Island Arsenal, joint munitions and technology center commander, Colonel David Gaeta.

Once again, we thank our host here at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum.

It's open from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, Tuesdays through Saturday, but is closed on federal holidays.

And that includes the 4th of July.

There is no admission charge and entry is through the Moline Gate.

You just need to have identification.

It's required to get on to Arsenal Island, on the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device, and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us.

As we talk about the issues on the city's,