Fort Drum, New York

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This article is about the U.S. Army base in New York State. For other places with a similar name, see Fort Drum.

Fort Drum
Watertown, New York
Sniper training at Fort Drum
Type	Army post
Built	1908
In use	1908-present
Controlled by	U.S. Army
Garrison	10th Mountain Division

Fort Drum is a census-designated place and U.S. Army military reservation in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 12,123 at the 2000 census. It is home to the 10th Mountain Division

Fort Drum consists of 107,265 acres (434 km²). Its mission includes command of active component units assigned to the installation, provide administrative and logistical support to tenant units, support to tenant units, support to active and reserve units from all services in training at Fort Drum, and planning and support for the mobilization and training of almost 80,000 troops annually.

1 History
- 1.1 World War II expansion
- 1.2 Permanent Training Site
2 Current Units
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 External links

[edit] History

Fort Drum has been used as a military training site since 1908; however, the Army's presence in the North Country may be traced back to the early 1800s.

In 1809 a company of infantry soldiers was stationed at Sackett's Harbor to enforce the Embargo Act and control smuggling between northern New York and Canada. Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor became the center of United States Naval and military activity for the Upper St. Lawrence River valley and Lake Ontario.

During the 1830s and 1840s, the Lower Canada Rebellion in Canada prompted a new round of military preparations and Madison Barracks became the home of artillery units.

In 1908, Brigadier General Frederick Dent Grant, son of General Ulysses S. Grant, was sent there with 2,000 regulars and 8,000 militia. He found Pine Plains to be an ideal place to train troops. The following year money was allocated to purchase the land and summer training continued here through the years.

The camp's first introduction to the national spotlight came in 1935 when the largest peacetime maneuvers were held on Pine Plains and surrounding farm lands. Approximately 36,500 soldiers came from throughout the Northeast to take part in the exercise. Some soldiers traveled by trains which arrived in town every 15 minutes, coming from as far away as Buffalo, New York and New York City. For 36 hours, young men from offices, factories, and farms marched, attacked and defended in tactical exercises on the 100 miles (160 km) the Army had leased for its war games. The maneuvers were judged to be most successful and the War Department purchased another 9,000 acres (36 km²) of land.

[edit] World War II expansion

With the outbreak of World War II, the area now known as Pine Camp was selected for a major expansion and an additional 75,000 acres (304 km²) of land was purchased. With that purchase, 525 local families were displaced. Five entire villages were eliminated, while others were reduced from one-third to one-half their size.

By Labor Day, 1941, 100 tracts of land were taken over. Three thousand buildings, including 24 schools, 6 churches and a post office were abandoned. Contractors then went to work, and in a period of 10 months at a cost of $20 million, an entire city was built to house the divisions scheduled to train here.

Eight hundred buildings were constructed; 240 barracks, 84 mess halls, 86 storehouses, 58 warehouses, 27 officers' quarters, 22 headquarters buildings, and 99 recreational buildings as well as guardhouses and a hospital. Construction workers paid the price, as the winter of 1941-42 was one of the coldest in North Country history.

The three divisions to train at Pine Camp included the 4th Armored Division (Gen. Creighton Abrams was a battalion commander there at the time), the 45th Infantry Division (United States) and the 5th Armored Division.

The post also served as a prisoner of war camp. Of those prisoners who died here, one Italian and six Germans are still buried in the Sheepfold Cemetery near Remington Pond.

[edit] Permanent Training Site

Pine Camp became Camp Drum in 1951, named after Lt. Gen. Hugh A. Drum who commanded the First Army during World War II. During and after the Korean Conflict a number of units were stationed and trained here to take advantage of the terrain and climate.

The post was designated Fort Drum in 1974 and a permanent garrison was assigned. In April 1980, B Company, 76th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) was reassigned here from Fort Meade, Maryland It was followed by the rest of the battalion, less Company D, three years later.

In January 1984, the Department of the Army announced it was studying selected Army posts to house a new light infantry division. On September 11, 1984, the announcement was made that Fort Drum would be the new home of the 10th Light Infantry Division.

The first division troops arrived at Fort Drum on December 3, 1984 and the unit was officially activated on February 13, 1985. The name was changed to the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) at that time.

The division reached full strength in 1989. Between 1986 and 1992, 130 new buildings, 35 miles of roads, and 4,272 sets of family housing units were built at a cost of $1.3 billion.

The mission of the 10th Mountain Division (LI) is to be manned and trained to deploy rapidly by air, sea, and land anywhere in the world, prepared to fight upon arrival and win.

On June 4, 1985, the identity of a Roundout Brigade was announced. The brigade was composed of New York Army National Guard battalions from central and northern New York under the 27th Infantry Brigade.

On June 28, 1985, the 76th Engineer Battalion was inactivated.

[edit] Current Units

10th Mountain Division

1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division

2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division

3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division

10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade

American Red Cross (ARC)
U.S. Army Materiel Command FSC (LAO)
20th Air Support Operations Squadron (United States Air Force)
Air Force Weather (20th ASOS)
Fort Drum Criminal Investigation Cmd (CID)
Noncommissioned Officers Academy
Naval Reserve Center - Fort Drum
174th Infantry Brigade (previously known as 2d Brigade 78th Division Training Support) http://www.tsb-drum.army.mil/index.html
7th Legal Support Organization (LSO)
725th Ordnance Company
27th Public Affairs Detachment (PAD)
174th Fighter Wing Air-Ground Gunnery Range
1215th USAR Garrison Support Unit
Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC)
E/1-58 Aviation Regiment
U.S. Air Ambulance Detachment

[edit] Geography

Fort Drum is located at 44°2′17″N, 75°45′29″W (44.038030, -75.757934)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 65.7 km² (25.4 mi²). 65.4 km² (25.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.35%) is water.

The military reservation occupies a large tract in the eastern part of Jefferson County, including parts of the Towns of Antwerp, Leray, Philadelphia, and Wilna. Several villages in the county are on the border of Fort Drum: Antwerp, Black River, Carthage, Evans Mills, and Philadelphia. The nearest city is Watertown, New York which is the service and shopping destination for the fort's personnel.

The Black River flows along part of the reservation boundary.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 12,123 people, 2,253 households, and 2,203 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 185.2/km² (479.8/mi²). There were 2,280 housing units at an average density of 34.8/km² (90.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 64.17% White, 19.78% African American, 0.83% Native American, 2.40% Asian, 0.69% Pacific Islander, 7.61% from other races, and 4.52% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.27% of the population.

There were 2,253 households out of which 75.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 91.9% were married couples living together, 4.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.2% were non-families. 2.0% of all households were made up of individuals and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.36.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 24.9% under the age of 18, 37.5% from 18 to 24, 36.0% from 25 to 44, 1.5% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females there were 186.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 235.4 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $31,699, and the median income for a family was $31,202. Males had a median income of $19,779 versus $19,401 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $13,395. About 6.3% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.