U.S. Navy Photo by Gary Wagner (Left to right) Jarl Bliss, Lincoln Property vice president, Capt. Hanft, Sara and Marine Cpl. Phillip Lindroth and son Skylar, NDW commandant, Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, and NDW Executive Director Ed Cannon cut ribbon to new home.

‘‘For too long in the past here, the qualifier of that statement was ‘when you have to go there,’ she pointed out, ‘‘because, while it is true that the base here in beautiful Southern Maryland was a great place for orders, a lot of its housing left something to be desired.”

But that all changed when a young Marine family opened the door to their new lodgings and the ‘‘oohs” and ‘‘ahs” that followed at the sight before them.

‘‘Wow!” was the expression of Sara Lindroth whose husband, Phillip, is a Marine corporal with the Chemical and Biological Incident Response Force. But most pleased with the new living arrangement seemed to be their 18-month-old son, Skylar. The toddler was scooped up in the arms of Hanft and taken upstairs to his room to discover a stuffed teddy bear, almost the exact same size as him. The Lindroths, of Oneonta, N.Y., met in high school and have been at NSF Indian Head approximately 14 months. They also have a 6-month-old daughter, Jade (Phillip Lindroth is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and has been in the Marine Corps for four-and-a-half years.)

‘‘What you see before you is a truly remarkable example of what can be done through PPV (the Navy’s Public⁄Private Venture with Lincoln Homes, Inc.) in providing the very best quality of life living arrangement for the Sailors and Marines who wear the uniform of our nation,” said Hanft. ‘‘For our Lincoln partner, I extend the traditional Navy phrase of ‘Bravo Zulu’ well done, for the truly remarkable work that was performed.”

Jarl Bliss, senior vice president of Lincoln Property Company (Herndon, Va.), echoed Hanft’s remarks.

He noted that this was the third ribbon-cutting done by the company but the first that was ‘‘completed within the Navy’s” fence line and pointed out synergetic teamwork between Indian Head’s infrastructure such as the fire, police and public works departments and his contractors.

‘‘This coordination meant that everyone worked very closely,” he said. ‘‘This really shows what the partnership between the Navy and Lincoln can accomplish. And I particularly want to thank the (residents) of the old housing units, especially CBIRF, as we had to move people around a lot. I really appreciate the patience of these families and I believe they are going to be really pleased when they move into these new beautiful homes,” he said.

Also speaking at the event was Capt. James Stader, commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Command.

‘‘You may not realize it but this (housing complex) represents just one part of a large agreement where the Lincoln family community will privatize over 5,700 units in three states, three naval districts and 14 bases and activities around the country,” he said. ‘‘More than $500,000 in new construction has been allocated throughout the Mid-Atlantic,” he added, ‘‘and when you go through these beautiful units you’ll see how this money is being spent...we ask a lot of our (military) families and Riverview is just one of the ways that we can give back,” he said. ‘‘This is a great day for our military service families!”

Concluding the remarks at the ceremony was Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, commandant of Naval District Washington, NSASP’s parent headquarters.

‘‘What I really want to say can only be said by the home you’re about the visit,” Lorge began. ‘‘When you go in there, think of all the families of Sailors and Marines, little families just starting out, then consider that these homes will allow their skippers to do their missions so much easier because he doesn’t have to worry about one of the key issues that a skipper has to worry about: how his Sailors and Marines are being housed. When I was a young ensign I only wish I had something like this to live in,” he concluded.