DECATUR, Ala. — It's obvious that a place nicknamed "The Rocket City" is bound to have some kind of scientific exploration going on.
U.S. Army Lieutenant General Leon Neil Thurgood says, "what Huntsville is able to do is, in case of hypersonics, is bring that national skill set, that national technology base to bear in one place."
Thurgood is the Director for Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space, and Rapid Acquisition at Redstone Arsenal.
Actually, this type of growth is happening all across the valley, including in Decatur.
According to Mayor Tab Bowling, "We send about 16,000 of our residents east on a daily basis to support Redstone, Marshall, everything as it relates to what happens there at Team Redstone."
Thurgood adds, "So it's not just this community but it's this community's ability to bring it together and lead the industrial base in some technologies. Hypersonics is one of them. So it's a unique capability that not only do we have the skill sets to build the base technologies, but they're bringing a national energy and a national capability to bear together here in this valley."
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But in order to reach this point, there's had to be some kind of education or training. This push for education is still going on today and in your own backyard.
Bowling explains, "The Decatur City School system, students can determine what career paths that they would like to look at. So they can try health, they can try science, they can try see if that's something that they're going to enjoy."
While the arsenal supports quality of life in The Valley, it also helps supply security to the entire nation.
Thurgood says, "I was talking to the mayor prior to the meeting and a lot of growth is coming here. That's great for this community, it's great for the Army and Team Redstone because those skill sets will help us produce better equipment for our soldiers."