Smith named to Gateway to the Army’s Advisory Board

Military technical consultant to assist with Centennial Park project on Fort Jackson

By Alex Junes-Ward

COLUMBIA, S.C. – W. Thomas Smith Jr. has been named to the Board of Advisors of the GATEWAY TO THE ARMY ASSOCIATION, a non-profit organization with a mission of designing, funding, and building “Centennial Park” on Fort Jackson.

“The work and plans of this organization are near and dear to me,” says Smith. “Having grown up only a few miles from Fort Jackson – the Army’s largest basic training facility in the nation – and to now be able to participate in an effort like this which celebrates the world’s greatest Army, the American soldier, and Fort Jackson in particular is something which for me surpasses the personal reward of simply being involved.”

An internationally recognized military technical consultant and New York Times bestselling editor, Smith is a formerly deployed U.S. Marine infantry leader and counterterrorism instructor who also served in the S.C. Military Dept. having retired at the rank of colonel in 2016. He today serves on the National Security Task Force of the gubernatorially established S.C. Floodwater Commission.

“I love Fort Jackson and all of our state’s military bases, the critical economic value these bases bring to the surrounding civilian communities, the long-term relationships and shared histories,” says Smith. “Here in Columbia – and not unlike our flagship university, the University of South Carolina – Fort Jackson in many ways defines who we are.”

According to the Gateway to the Army Association, Fort Jackson trains the largest number of men and women in the entry level training phase of the U.S. Army. Moreover, the post, which serves as home to numerous other key military activities involving all other U.S. armed forces, generates more than $4,000,000 in annual revenue for Columbia, the Midlands overall and the state of South Carolina.

In honor of Fort Jackson’s 100-year anniversary which was celebrated in 2017, the Association’s planned Centennial Park will feature a grand 300-seat amphitheater with a towering monument depicting two drill sergeants (one male, one female), six Greek-styled visitors pavilions, a brick-paved “pathway of patriots,” a wartime theater montage and so much more.

Total cost of the project is projected to be $2.7 million (both monetary and in-kind construction support). The association has already raised $1.6 million.

In mid-Nov., the Association held its first-ever Centennial Park Fundraiser at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

The Gateway to the Army Association was established in May 2015.

– For more information about the Centennial Park Fundraiser, please visit https://www.gatewaytothearmy.org/.