| Fort Gordon | |
|---|---|
| Part of Signal Center of Excellence | |
| Augusta, Georgia | |
Shoulder sleeve insignia of units stationed at Fort Gordon |
|
| In use | July 1917-present |
| Current owner |
United States Federal Government |
| Controlled by | U.S. Army |
| Garrison | U.S. Army Signal School 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 |
| Commanders | MG Alan Lynn |
| Occupants | Approx. 30,000 from various branches, as well as govt contractors. |
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 Signal Center and was once the home of "The Provost Marshal General School" (Military Police). The fort is located in Richmond, Jefferson, McDuffie, and Columbia counties, 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.
Fort Gordon and the Signal Center is commanded by Major General Alan Lynn.
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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 Eighty-second All-American Division. The division was composed of men from several different states, but men from Georgia made up almost half its number.[1]
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 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 December 9, 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.[2]
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 March 21, 1956, the post was renamed Fort Gordon.
During the 1950s through the 1970s 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.[3]
Fort Gordon's technical name is the U.S. Army Signal Center & Fort Gordon, or USASCFG. While the TRADOC school itself is the primary function, the post is home to the following active-duty tenant units:
Considered a mission partner on Fort Gordon is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center (DDEAMC), home of the Southeast Regional Medical Command (SERMC) 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. Under SERMC, the hospital is responsible for military hospital care from Kentucky to Puerto Rico.
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.