Camp Blanding

Infobox Military Structure
name=Camp Blanding Joint Training Center
location=Starke, Florida


caption=
built=1940
materials=
used=1940 - Present
type=Military Reservation
controlledby=Florida National Guard
garrison=
commanders=
battles=

Camp Blanding Joint Training Center is the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, located in Clay County, Florida which is near Starke. The site measures approximately 73,000 acres (300 km²) and includes Kingsley Lake.

Camp Blanding is the primary training site for the state's combat arms brigade, the 53rd Infantry Brigade of the Florida Army National Guard and is also home to a detachment of the 20th Special Forces Group.

Camp Blanding houses several units of the Florida Air National Guard, to include the 202nd Red Horse Squadron, 159th Weather Flight, Weather Readiness Training Center (WRTC), and the joint Army/Air Force 44th Civil Support Team. The base is also a training location for military counter-drug units and for law enforcement agencies in Florida and functions as the back up Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the State of Florida.

Weapons ranges at Camp Blanding include: 50 live fire ranges capable of handling all weapons systems organic to a Light Infantry Brigade to include Mortars and Artillery; 5 Automated Ranges for small arms and handgun qualification; a Crew Combat Range; and 4 Platoon/Squad Movement to Contact ranges (400 by 800 meters). Training Areas include three Major Maneuver Areas with a total of 55,000 plus acres of varied topography -- planted pine plantations, swamps, oak hammocks, desert like terrain -- with minimal environmental restrictions, with the aapability to support a Light Infantry Brigade plus one Battalion of aggressors. The MOUT Collective Training Facility consists of 16 Buildings, Bridge & Tunnel Trainer. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-blanding.htm]

Billets accommodate 3000 persons, with one Brigade consisting of four Battalion Areas. Each Battalion area has company dining facilities, orderly rooms, Officer/Enlisted barracks, supply building, and Battalion HQ building. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-blanding.htm]

History

Camp Blanding owes its location on the shore of Kingsley Lake to the U.S. Navy's desire to establish a Naval Air Station (NAS) on the banks of the St. Johns River, south of Jacksonville, in the late 1930s. The site that would eventually become Naval Air Station Jacksonville was already the location of the Florida National Guard's Camp Foster and negotiations were started for a land-swap. In mid 1939, the transaction was accomplished and the state armory board chose as compensation a tract of 30,000 acres in Clay County as a National Guard camp and training site. The National Guard Officers Association of Florida recommended the new camp be named in honor of Lietenant General Albert H. Blanding. The War Department agreed and Camp Blanding's history began.

General Blanding (9 Nov 1876 - 26 Dec 1970) was one of Florida's most distinguished soldiers. He graduated from the East Florida Seminary (now the University of Florida) in 1894 and began his military service to the state and nation. He was promoted to colonel in 1909 and commanded the 2nd Florida Infantry during the Mexican Border Service in 1916 and 1917. During World War I, he commanded the 53rd Brigade, 27th Division. He was promoted to major general in 1924 and commanded the 31st Infantry Division until 1940. He also served as chief of the National Guard Bureau until his retirement and promotion to lieutenant general in 1940.

In 1940, Camp Blanding was leased to the U.S. Army as an active duty training center. The post was originally used by New England and Southern troops preparing for deployment overseas. However, during the course of the war, Camp Blanding served as an infantry replacement training center, as induction center, prisoner of war compound, and a separation center. At the height of the war, thanks to leases with local landowners, Camp Blanding sprawled over more than 170,000 acres. From 1940 to 1945, more than 800,000 soldiers received all or part of their training here.

After the war, the state's 30,000 acres were returned to the armory board and by 1948 most of the buildings were sold or moved off post. In the early 1950s, the Federal Government deeded additional land to the State of Florida for use as a National Guard training facility, but until 1970, the post saw only limited use by the military.

In the 1970s an expansion program began upgrading post facilities and in 1981, the Department of Defense redesignated Camp Blanding as a Class A military installation. The designation qualified the post for use by greater numbers of troops with more diversified training.

In 1983, the first 105mm artillery firing points were used since World War II. Tank ranges have been upgraded and Tank Tables I through VI can be fired. In addition to improved facilities and ranges, a parachute drop zone and an expeditionary airfield capable of accommodating C-130 Hercules aircraft have expanded Camp Blanding's training capacity. The U.S. Navy also utilizes a bombing and strafing target in the southern portion of the post. Upgrading of Camp Blanding's facilities and training areas continues to this day. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-blanding.htm]

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-blanding.htm Globalsecurity.org page]
* [http://30thinfantry.org/blanding.shtml Camp Blanding Museum]
* [http://www.campblanding-museum.org/ Camp Blanding Memorial Park]
* [http://www.fljack.ang.af.mil/wrtc/cbhist.htm U.S. Air Force 125th Fighter Wing's Camp Blanding History page]