Soldier’s mother cuts ribbon for training center. Photo by Marlene Thompson Col. David Dodd considered it a significant event Monday as he attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Topham Training Center at 10th Street and Chamberlain Avenue.

“This is the most important thing I will do this year,” said Dodd, the deputy chief of staff/G6 for Forces Command, about the facility dedication. The center will be an East Coast Regional IT Training Facility.

Dodd first met Sgt. Andrew Topham while Dodd was commander of the 86th Signal Battalion. Topham was a specialist at the time, but he was a vital force in setting up communications networks in Middle East in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Topham was deployed in November 2001 with Task Force 86 to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Topham set up networks in areas previously uninhabited by U.S. forces. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, which had sat vacant since 1979, was one of the places he installed communication systems. He assisted the British with communications;

The Bagram Air Force Base also required a communications network before it could be repaired, and additional troops sent in. Topham provided that support.

In addition to setting up many of the preliminary systems, Topham was instrumental in training those noncommissioned officers who would be on the frontlines in the days to come.

Many he trained were vital parts of units such as the V Corps Rear at Camp Anaconda and the Third Army.

Topham returned to the U.S. and became an Advanced Individual Training instructor at Fort Gordon. He later became a Department of the Army civilian employed with the 93rd Signal Brigade, now the 35th Signal Brigade, and then with CECOM Information Technology Field Service Branch.

Topham died at the age of 27 in December 2006.