Stories From the Homefront: Building Our Defense Workforce Starts at Home – Association of Defense Communities

Stories From the Homefront: Building Our Defense Workforce Starts at Home  Association of Defense Communities

In ADC’s Homefront series, we visited Southeastern Connecticut, where hands-on training is building the next generation of shipbuilders, In ADC’s Homefront series, we visited Southeastern Connecticut, where family ties and hands-on training are building the next generation of shipbuilders, just when the country needs them most.  This story is an adaptation from the recently released 2026 America’s Defense Communities Magazine, written by Tim Ford.  National security increasingly depends on how fast America can build things — and how many people are ready to build them. As the Pentagon pushes to modernize the submarine fleet and rebuild a shipbuilding base that fell behind for decades, there are plenty of bottlenecks to solve, such as capacity, supply chains and funding.

But a key one is people.   ADC saw that firsthand in Groton, Connecticut, filming an episode of ADC’s Homefront series. In Groton, the answer starts exactly where you’d expect: at home.   That’s where I met JT Lambert. He’s 18, a 2026 graduate of Fitch High School, and this year he signed on with General Dynamics Electric Boat, the submarine shipyard that has anchored this region for generations. His father has spent 25 years there as a nuclear mechanic.   Groton calls itself the Submarine Capital of the World. Talking to JT, I understood what that means for generations.   “The new Columbia class, they’re