US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Bragg, NC)

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J .s....ww....-s-. sr fa sg W v '3432i,f' uv- yu itll! WMC Main Entrance s IM. ' Wi KWIAAAV T '!'l' 'fi---I JFK Center Headquarters ,f Service Club Womack Hospital 'R HISTORY OF FORT BRAGG In the autumn of 1918, 127,000 sprawling acres of deso- late sandhills and pine trees were designated as a United States Army reservation. Adequate water, rail facilities, and a Carolina climate together lent themselves to Army needs of the time, and on September 4-, 1918, Camp Bragg, North Carolina, emerged as a field artillery site. The Camp was named in honor of General Braxton Bragg, former artillery officer, North Carolinian, and a General in the Army of the Confederate States. The first years were undistinguished, and Camp Bragg fell perilously close to abandonment before gaining a foun- dation in February 1922. The Field Artillery Board moved to Camp Bragg, and that November the installation became Fort Bragg. Signs of permanency soon began to appear. Streets and sidewalks were built. Lawns and trees were planted. Per- manent buildings were erected. Bi-planes appeared on the grass landing strip at Pope Field with more and more fre- quency. More importantly, men and units began to arrive. The Fort grew slowly during the peacetime years, inching to a total of 5,400 men by the summer of 1940. As the country entered World War II, Fort Bragg func- tioned as a replacement training center and a training site. The Field Artillery Training Center became the largest cen- ter of its kind in the country, and fighting divisions called Bragg their home. However, 1942 brought the true indication of Fort Bragg's future, for in that year the first of the air- borne units trained at Bragg in preparation for combat. With Pope F ield-its runways paved-providing the aircraft and an abundance of rugged terrain and sandy soil, Fort Bragg was an ideal post for parachute assault operations. All five of our World War II Airborne Divisions-the 82nd, 101st, 11th, 17th and 13th-trained in the Fort Bragg-Camp Mackall area. Truly Bragg was the first Home of the Air- borne. The major units now on the Post have assembled here since World War II. The 82nd arrived in 1946. In 1951, XVIII Airborne Corps was reactivated at Fort Bragg with operational control of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Di- visions, the same two elite divisions it started with in World War II. The Psychological Warfare Center moved here in 1952, and has since grown into the world-famous ,Iohn F. Kennedy Center for Special Warfare fAirbornel. The 12th Support Brigade was assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps in 1962 as the 5th Logistical Command. The most recent ad- dition is the U. S. Army Training Center, activated in the summer of 1966. Together with Pope Air Force Base and its 464th Troop Carrier Wing, the Bragg-Pope complex has become one of the most important military areas in the world. Fort Bragg today is far removed from its modest begin- nings in 1918. The Post ranks as the fifth largest city in North Carolina. The reservation comprises over 135,000 acres, with a military population of roughly 50,000, depend- ents number about 5l,000, civilian workers over 5,000, and retired personnel and their families about 10,000. Thus, all told, Fort Bragg serves approximately 120,000 people. Almost everything about Fort Bragg is big. The Post is one of the largest revenue producing industries in North Carolina, Womack Army Hospital is the busiest Army Hos- pital in the United States, barring but one-Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D. C., the Boy Scout organization here is the largest at any armed forces installation. But Fort Braggls major concern has always been the individual sol- dier, the man who finds his pride in being part of a team and part of a larger community, a community spreading from surrounding Fayetteville and Spring Lake throughout the Hfty states. This is the man who has made Fort Bragg what it is todayAa great installation in a great state of a great country-g'Fort Bragg, Home of the Airborne.

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THOMAS R. CROSS Colonel, Infantry Commanding Officer U. S. Army Training Center, Infantry WILLIAM R. CONDOS Colonel, Artillery Deputy Commander U. S. Army Training Center, Infantry

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U. S. ARMY TRAINING CENTER 'uhm q 1 x ...un Training Center Headquarters U. S. ARMY TRAINING CENTER, INF ANTRY The United States Army Training Center, Infantry, was established at Fort Bragg by General Order Number 161, Third United States Army, on 2 May 1966. Its essential mission is the reception, processing and training of Basic Combat Trainees. Commanded by Colonel Thomas R. Cross, the center is staffed by more than 300 officers and 2,100 non-commis- sioned officers and enlisted personnel, especially selected for the important task of molding inexperienced recruits into combat-ready soldiers. The first stop for a new enlistee or inductee at the United States Army Training Center is the Reception Station which is responsible for his initial processing, examination, and the provision of necessary clothing and supplies. Upon leaving the Reception Station, the man meets his Drill Sergeant and becomes a member of one of the 50 companies which comprise the two brigades of the Training Center. With his company, the trainee enters the eight-week-long Basic Combat Training Cycle, which consists of 352 hours of instruction, practice, practical exercise and testing in 27 subjects. This extensive program is designed to transform him into a proficient military athlete, an expert marksman, and most important, a self-reliant, mature soldier, who is able to act, not only on the orders of others, but on his own initiative.