Fort Eisenhower
Fort Gordon | |
---|---|
Augusta, Georgia | |
![]() US Army Signal Center Shoulder Sleeve Insignia[1] | |
Site information | |
Owner | United States Federal Government |
Controlled by | ![]() |
Site history | |
In use | July 1917–present |
Garrison information | |
Current commander | Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Fogarty |
Garrison | U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence |
Occupants | 15th Regimental Signal Brigade 35th Signal Brigade 513th Military Intelligence Brigade 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing 706th Military Intelligence Group Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center Navy Information Operations Command, Georgia |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Typhus_shot.jpg/220px-Typhus_shot.jpg)
Fort Gordon, formerly known as Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established in 1917. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps and Cyber Center of Excellence and was once the home of "The Provost Marshal General School" (Military Police). The fort is located in Augusta, Georgia. The main component of the post is the Advanced Individual Training for Signal Corps military occupational specialities. In 1966–68 the Army's Signal Officer Candidate School (located at Fort Monmouth during World War II and the Korean War) graduated over 2,200 Signal officers. Signals Intelligence has become more visible and comprises more and more of the fort's duties.
History
World War I era
Georgia established many war-training camps during World War I. Chamblee, northeast of Atlanta, was selected for one of the state's largest army cantonments. It was named Camp Gordon in honor of John Brown Gordon, who was a major general in the Confederate army, a Georgia governor, a U.S. senator, and a businessman. The camp opened in July 1917, becoming a training site and home of the famous 82nd Airborne Division. The division was composed of men from several different states, but men from Georgia made up almost half its number.[2]
World War II Era
Camp Gordon was approved for reconstruction in July 1941. The U.S. War Department approved a contract to construct facilities on a new training area near Augusta, in Richmond County, Georgia that had been selected several months earlier. A groundbreaking and flag-raising ceremony took place in October. In response to the attack on Pearl Harbor Colonel Herbert W. Schmidt, camp commander, moved his small staff from his temporary office in the Augusta post office building to the unfinished headquarters building at Camp Gordon on 9 December 1941 and the 4th Infantry Division began to establish operations there.
The post was home to three divisions during the war: the 4th Infantry, the 26th Infantry, and the 10th Armored. From October 1943 to January 1945 Camp Gordon served as an internment camp for foreign prisoners of war. From May 1945 until April 1946 the U.S. Army Personnel and Separation Center processed nearly 86,000 personnel for discharge from the Army.[3]
Post World War II
From early 1946 to June 1947, the U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks for convicted criminals was located at Camp Gordon, and the installation was scheduled for deactivation. In September 1948 the Army relocated the Military Police School from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to Camp Gordon, and in October 1948 a Signal Corps training center was activated.
On 21 March 1956, the post was renamed Fort Gordon.
During the 1950s and into the 1980s Fort Gordon served as a basic-training facility. It also provided advanced individual training for troops. Since June 1985 Fort Gordon has housed the U.S. Signal Corps, the branch of the U.S. Army responsible for providing and maintaining information systems and communication networks. The Signal Corps training center's primary purpose is to conduct specialized instruction for all Signal Corps military and civilian personnel.
During the Vietnam War, Fort Gordon was home to Camp Crocket, an area of the post conducting 8-week infantry training courses for soldiers in line to attend Airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then be assigned to Airborne units in Vietnam. The location closed as the war ended and today the site is overgrown with pine trees.[4]
Units and Facilities
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/U.S._Soldiers_stand_ready_for_a_cannon_salute_during_the_7th_Signal_Command_activation_and_reception_March_6%2C_2009%2C_at_Fort_Gordon%2C_Ga_090306-A-NF756-001.jpg/220px-U.S._Soldiers_stand_ready_for_a_cannon_salute_during_the_7th_Signal_Command_activation_and_reception_March_6%2C_2009%2C_at_Fort_Gordon%2C_Ga_090306-A-NF756-001.jpg)
Fort Gordon's official name is the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence & Fort Gordon, or USACCoE&FG. While the TRADOC school itself is the primary function, the post is home to the following active-duty tenant units:
- 15th Regimental Signal Brigade
- 35th Signal Brigade
- 63rd Signal Battalion
- 67th Signal Battalion
- 50th Signal Battalion (Attached to Fort Bragg, NC)
- 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing
- 513th Military Intelligence Brigade
- 35th Military Police Detachment
- 706th Military Intelligence Group
- 434th Signal Corps Band
- 7th Signal Command
- 359th Signal Brigade
- 92nd Engineers Combat Heavy
- 206th Military Intelligence Battalion
- 31st Intelligence Squadron
- 324th Signal Battalion
- Cryptologic Support Battalion
- Navy Information Operations Command
- 338th Training Squadron
- The post also hosts a joint-service command, National Security Agency/Central Security Service Georgia, formerly known as the Gordon Regional Security Operations Center. The Army's 706th MI Group works there alongside units from the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, Naval Network Warfare Command (Navy Information Operations Command, Georgia),[5] Marine Corps Intelligence Activity as well as civilians from the National Security Agency (NSA).
Considered a mission partner on Fort Gordon is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center (DDEAMC) as well as a dental laboratory. The facility treats active duty military and their families, as well as many of the military retiree community in the Central Savannah River Area.
Fort Gordon has approximately 30,000 military and civilian employees and currently has an estimated $1.1 billion economic impact on the Augusta-Richmond County economy.
Between 1966 and 68, approximately 2,200 Signal Officers were trained at Fort Gordon's Signal Officer Candidate School (OCS), before all US Army branch OCSs were merged with the Infantry OCS at Fort Benning, Georgia.
During the Vietnam War, Ft. Gordon was also a training location for Military Police Corps in the Brems Barracks region of the fort, which was also later used in the 1980s for training radioteletype operators.
Future activities and facilities
Due to increases in the need and use of cyber technology the US Army is consolidating the United States Army Cyber Command into one location. Fort Gordon along with Fort George Meade were in the running to receive the command.[6] In December 2013 it was announced that Fort Gordon was selected.[7]
Berlin Wall display
In Freedom Park, located off Rice Road, across from Barton Field, is a display of two sections of the Berlin Wall, as well as a sign from the wall.[8]
References
- ^ "US Army Signal Center & School Heraldry". The Institute of Heraldry, US Army. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
- ^ The New Georgia Encyclopedia, World War I in Georgia: Federal Installations and War Camps. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
- ^ Dunn, Mark (10 June 2005). "New Georgia Encyclopedia: Fort Gordon". Retrieved 8 February 2008.
- ^ "Vietvet.org". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ^ "NIOC Georgia History". NAVIOCOM Georgia. United States Navy. Retrieved 10 December 2008.
- ^ "The Army's cyber command facility with a Star Trek-inspired showroom may be falling apart". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ^ "Army Settles On Augusta For Cyber Forces Headquarters". nextgov.com. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ Fort Gordon, p. 117, at Google Books
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Fort Gordon Pictorial History Book
- Fort Gordon
- WW1 account of Life at Camp Gordon"Letters from Ward B Scripture of the 328th Infantry to his Mother during WW1"
- "NSA Seeks to Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Surveillance Infrastructure," The Peacock Report, April 20, 2006
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center
- CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon – Group that sought to keep Fort Gordon open during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round
- U.S. Army Signal Corps OCS Association
- Fort Gordon Directorate of Morale, Welfare and Recreation
- New Georgia Encyclopedia information
- Battle Command Battle Lab
- Use dmy dates from February 2013
- United States Army posts
- Training installations of the United States Army
- Military intelligence collection
- Forts in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia
- Economy of Augusta, Georgia
- Buildings and structures in Richmond County, Georgia
- Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Georgia
- Buildings and structures in McDuffie County, Georgia
- Buildings and structures in Columbia County, Georgia