Drizzly skies laced with colorful fall foliage appeared to be the appropriate backdrop for an event that juxtaposed football metaphors with service abroad and a warm welcome home.

Soldiers, civilians, veterans and dignitaries filed in for the dedication of the Col. James W. Nesmith Readiness Center on Friday, saluting the 41,263 square-foot facility that will house the Oregon National Guard’s 162nd Engineer Company and its 122 soldiers.

“Seems like it wasn’t that long ago that we were sitting in a dry field

out here wondering what this was all going to look like,” said U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., who lauded the state-of-the-art center just north of Dallas. It replaced the rickety armory in town that housed the Polk County unit for nearly 100 years.

The 162nd was housed in temporary facilities away from the area while the new facility was under construction.

“This is a wonderful day for Dallas and Polk County, and also a wonderful day for Oregon and our citizen soldiers,” said State Sen. Peter Courtney, D-Salem.

Schrader and Courtney were joined by Dallas Mayor Brian Dalton, Polk County Commissioner Mike Ainsworth, Major General Raymond F. Rees and Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Jim Willis as speakers at the dedication.

Courtney invoked an image of a football locker room, inviting the crowd to imagine the Ducks, Beavers or Western Oregon Wolves preparing for a football game without a decent facility. He expanded that image to the 162nd.

“The National Guard’s 162nd (soldiers) do a little more than play a game of football,” he said, delineating the engineer division’s deeds overseas, often engaged in danger, and the tasks of “physically removing explosive devices.”

He asserted: “If we can build multi-million-dollar football facilities for (university sports), we can build facilities like these…to prepare these brave men and women to do their jobs.”

Courtney’s comparison drew a warm applause. He was joined by all dignitaries in extending appreciation for the soldiers who would call the new facility home, including Ainsworth, who also delivered a calculated economic breakdown of how the facility and its use impacts Dallas and the surrounding communities.

“We welcome back the soldiers to our fold,” Dalton said. “We will cheer for you, root for you, care for you, respect you, and when the chips are down, we will cry for you.

“Welcome home to this great building,” he said.