Camp Funston

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Camp Funston is located on Ft. Riley, and is located southwest of Manhattan, Kansas. The camp was named for Brigadier General Frederick Funston (1865–1917). Camp Funston was one of sixteen Divisional Cantonment Training Camps established at the outbreak of World War I. Construction began during the summer of 1917 and eventually encompassed approximately 1,400 buildings on 2,000 acres.

During World War I, nearly 50,000 recruits trained at the camp, commanded by Major General Leonard Wood. Notable units who received training at Camp Funston include the 89th Division, which was deployed to France in the spring of 1918, the 10th Division and black soldiers assigned to the 92nd Division.

In March of 1918, the first recorded cases of what came to be the world-wide influenza epidemic, also known as "Spanish Flu", were reported at Camp Funston.

Prior to 1 October 1992, Camp Funston was the home of the United States Army Correctional Brigade whose mission was to prepare prisoners for transition to civilian life as useful citizens or, in a few select cases, for return to duty. The Correctional Brigade environment was unique in that prisoner control was maintained by military discipline, instead of walls and bars for most of the typical prisoners’ stay. The Correctional Brigade doctrine was that the minimum custody/military discipline environment when coupled with correctional treatment, educational programs, military and vocational training best prepared the typical first-time prisoner for a crime-free life after prison as either a productive soldier or a useful citizen in civilian life. Moreover, this correctional system was asserted to be less expensive to establish and operate than the traditional prison.