| Parks Reserve Forces Training Area Camp Parks Parks Air Force Base |
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| Located near Dublin, California | |
Parks AFB, CA - 5 Oct 1954 |
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| Type | Reserve Forces Training Area |
| Built | 1943 |
| In use | 1943-Present |
| Controlled by | United States Army |
Parks Reserve Forces Training Area (PRFTA) is a United States Army facility located in Dublin, California that is currently a semi-active mobilization and training center for Army Reserve Component personnel to be used in case of war or natural disaster.
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The facility was built during World War II, and was commissioned 19 January 1943 as Camp Parks and was home to the Navy Seabees. It was named after Rear Admiral Charles W. Parks, CEC, USN. Adjacent to Camp Parks to the east, was Camp Shoemaker and the U.S. Naval Hospital Shoemaker, also built during the war. The three Navy bases laying side by side were called "Fleet City."
In 1945, on its huge paved parade ground, Camp Parks could muster more than 20,000 men and hundreds of officers. It was the home for Seabee battalions returning from the Pacific Theater of Operations after a year or more of arduous construction duty. They came to Camp Parks for medical treatment, military training and reorganization. The base housed up to 20 battalions at a time. Most battalions prepared for a second tour in the Pacific. Many Seabees were hospitalized, and those no longer fit for duty received their discharge. After their initial leaves, personnel were given rigorous training and battalions were brought back up to fighting strength.
In 1946, at the end of World War II, the Secretary of the Navy disestablished the three facilities, and from 1946 to 1951, the Navy leased the land to the County of Alameda for use as Santa Rita Jail. The sea of Quonset huts and its' two-story wooden barracks were dismantled in the following years.
Camp Parks sat unused until the Air Force established a basic training center in 1951, during the Korean War, and renamed the facility Parks Air Force Base, and made it a Basic Military Training Center. The Air Force had to completely rebuild the base. Base personnel were initially housed in temporary facilities and ate from a field mess. The first group of Airmen arrived at Camp Parks in the Summer of 1951; mass training began in March 1952. Parks Air Force Base is notable since it is one of the few facilities to be called an air force base, but which did not have a functional runway on site. [1]
In July 1959, the installation was transferred to the United States Army. From 1959 to 1973, it was operated in a standby status under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Sixth Army, Presidio of San Francisco.
In 1973, the U.S. Army determined that Camp Parks was needed as a mobilization and training center for Reserve Components in the event of war or natural disaster. On December 11, 1980, the Army officially designated Camp Parks as a semi-active installation, renaming it Parks Reserve Forces Training Area.
Today, Parks is a direct-reporting installation of Ft Hunter Liggett, Calif.
Parks has a primary mission of exercising the functions of command, training, security, administration, servicing and supply to all troop units, military activities and other governmental agencies assigned or attached.
New and state-of-the-art training facilities have been built and more are planned. In the garrison area are administrative and classroom buildings, upgraded housing, a remodeled dining facility, a modern lodging facility, an informative history center, and other support and training facilities.
Parks RFTA is the only local training facility for more than 11,000 Army Reserve Soldiers in the San Francisco Bay Area where firing ranges and a wide variety of training facilities are available. Reserve Units permanently stationed at Parks RFTA conduct weekend inactive duty training throughout the year, and Reserve Component units travel to the base for their two-week annual training. [1]
In its 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) recommendations, the Department of Defense recommended relocating the 91st Division to Fort Hunter Liggett.[4] [5]
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