Fort Gordon, formerly known as Camp Gordon, is a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
installation established in October 1941. It is the current home of the
United States Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...
,
United States Army Cyber Command
U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) conducts information dominance and cyberspace operations as the Army service component command of United States Cyber Command.The official regulation, General Order (DA GO 2016-11) was signed by the Secretary of ...
, and the Cyber Center of Excellence. It was once the home of The
Provost Marshal General
The provost marshal general (pronounced "provo") is a United States Army staff position that handles investigations of U.S. Army personnel. It is the highest-ranking provost marshal position in the U.S. Army, reporting to the Chief of Staff of ...
School and Civil Affairs School. The fort is located southwest of
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
. One of the major components of the installation is Advanced Individual Training for Signal Corps military occupational specialties.
Signals Intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
has become more visible and comprises more and more of the fort's duties. The installation was recommended for renaming to Fort Eisenhower by
The Naming Commission
The Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, more commonly referred to as The Naming Commissio ...
.
[
]
Etymology
It is named after John Brown Gordon
John Brown Gordon () was an attorney, a slaveholding plantation owner, general in the Confederate States Army, and politician in the postwar years. By the end of the Civil War, he had become "one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals."
A ...
, a major general in the Confederate army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
during the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. Fort Gordon is one of the U.S. Army installations named for Confederate soldiers to be recommended for renaming by The Naming Commission
The Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, more commonly referred to as The Naming Commissio ...
. Their recommendation is that the post be renamed "Fort Eisenhower".The Naming Commission
The Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, more commonly referred to as The Naming Commissio ...
(Aug 2022
Recommendation
/ref>
History
World War I era
The United States Army established many war-training camps during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Chamblee
Chamblee ( ) is a city in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The population was 30,164 as of the 2020 census.
History
The area that would later become Chamblee was originally dairy farms. During the late ninet ...
, 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
John Brown Gordon () was an attorney, a slaveholding plantation owner, general in the Confederate States Army, and politician in the postwar years. By the end of the Civil War, he had become "one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals."
A ...
, 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 82nd Division. The division was composed of men from several different states, but men from Georgia made up almost half its number. Among the men trained at Camp Gordon, during that period, was the future Congressional Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. Th ...
recipient Alvin York
Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964), also known as Sergeant York, was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine ...
. This camp was in operation until the sale of real estate and buildings was ordered in 1920. It was abandoned in September 1921. During WWI the US Army Camp Hancock was located in Augusta, Georgia in the general vicinity of the current Daniel Field
Daniel Field is a public use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of Augusta, a city in Richmond County, Georgia, United States. It is owned by the City of Augusta and operated by the General ...
. Camp Hancock was the home of the 28th Infantry Division from Pennsylvania. Camp Hancock was abandoned and turned over to a caretaker detachment A military caretaker or caretaker detachment is a group of one or more personnel assigned to maintain for future use a military base, fortification, or other facility that is ungarrisoned but not abandoned. Naval reserve fleets and military aircraf ...
27 March 1919. From 1919 until 1941, there was no army installation named Camp Gordon in existence, nor was there an installation located near Augusta, Georgia.
The 157th Depot Brigade was located at Camp Gordon, which received, organized and equipped troops in preparation for further assignments. The unit also received returning troops from war time service and completed their out processing and discharges.
World War II era
Camp Gordon was approved as the name for a WWII division training camp which began construction in July 1941. The U.S. War Department approved a contract to construct facilities on a new training area near Augusta, in Richmond County, Georgia
Richmond County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 200,549. It is one of the original counties of Georgia, created February 5, 1777. Following an election in 1995, the city of Augusta ( ...
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
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
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 9 December 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.[
]
Post-World War II
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 21 March 1956, the post was renamed Fort Gordon.
During the Vietnam War, Fort Gordon was home to Camp Crockett
Camp Crockett was established in late 1967 on the Fort Gordon, Georgia, federal reservation for the training of soldiers preparatory to Airborne and Special Forces schools during the Vietnam war.Richard Rogers: Special Assignment: Agent Oran ...
, an area of the post conducting 9-week advance airborne infantry training courses for soldiers in line to attend the remaining 3 weeks of Airborne training at Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...
, 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. 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. Until 1974 Fort Gordon was also a training location for the Military Police Corps, located in the World War II wooden barracks corridor between Brainard Ave. and Avenue of the States, and in the Brems Barracks area of the fort.
During the 1950s and into the 1970s Fort Gordon served as a basic training facility under the US Third Army. In 1974 the Army moved its main Signal School from Fort Monmouth
Fort Monmouth is a former installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...
NJ to Fort Gordon to consolidate all signal training in one location. The activity was designated the US Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon. At the same time, the Army moved the MP School to Fort McClellan
Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a decommissioned United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million tr ...
AL and the Civil Affairs School to Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...
NC. Since June 1986 Fort Gordon has been the home of the Signal Corps Regiment, the branch of the U.S. Army responsible for providing and maintaining information systems and communication networks. The US Army Signal School's primary purpose is to conduct specialized instruction for all Signal Corps military and civilian personnel. During the 1990s the post served as a home for deployable Signal and Military Intelligence units as well. The other major activity was health care, to include a Dental Lab along with a major Army Hospital, Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center. Fort Gordon is a diversified post where army Signal, Military Intelligence, Medical and now Cyber are housed. The senior mission partner however remains the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence.
In September 2014, the US Army established the US Army Cyber branch and Cyber School at Fort Gordon. Both the Signal School and Cyber School are subordinate elements of the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence, the headquarters which was formerly known as the US Army Signal Center of Excellence. The chiefs of the Signal and Cyber branches - the Chief of Signal and the Chief of Cyber - are dual hatted as the commandants of their respective schools and serve as the proponent chiefs for their branches and regiments.
In October 2016, Fort Gordon marked its 75th year as a continuous active US military installation near Augusta, GA. In 2018, the Installation Management Command became part of the Army Material Command and the installation facilities now belongs to AMC, with the TRADOC Cyber Center of Excellence commander serving as the senior mission partner in addition to his TRADOC duties of education and training.
Units and facilities
Fort Gordon's official name is the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence & Fort Gordon, or CyberCoE&FG. While the TRADOC school itself is a major function, the post is home to the following active-duty tenant units:
*United States Army Cyber Command
U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) conducts information dominance and cyberspace operations as the Army service component command of United States Cyber Command.The official regulation, General Order (DA GO 2016-11) was signed by the Secretary of ...
* Cyber Protection Brigade
* 780th Military Intelligence Brigade (located at Fort Meade, MD)
**782nd Military Intelligence Battalion
** 915 Cyber Warfare Battalion
*** B Company
*15th Signal Brigade
The 15th Signal Brigade (TEAM 15) is an active duty unit of the United States Army, based at Fort Gordon. The 15th Signal Brigade trains and develops professional Signal and Cyber Soldiers and Leaders and supports the execution of academic Profess ...
**369th Signal Battalion
The 369th Signal Battalion is a United States Army Signal Battalion. It is organized under the 15th Regimental Signal Brigade at Fort Gordon, GA. As a US Army Training and Doctrine Command unit, it serves as one of two battalions which provide ...
**442nd Signal Battalion 44 may refer to:
* 44 (number)
* one of the years 44 BC, AD 44, 1944, 2044
Military
*44M Tas, a Hungarian medium/heavy tank design of World War II
*44M Tas Rohamlöveg, a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, derived from the 44M Tas t ...
** 551st Signal Battalion
** Ordnance Training Detachment - Gordon
**Cyber Training Battalion
*35th Signal Brigade
The 35th Corps Signal Brigade is a signal brigade in the United States Army. The brigade was previously based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and provided rapidly deployable force projection signal support, and rapid communications for Army, joint, ...
**50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion
The 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion is a United States Army unit which is part of the 35th Signal Brigade located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The
Brigade's mission is to provide worldwide contingency, force projection, forced-entry signa ...
(located at Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...
, NC)
**51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion
The 51st Signal Battalion is a United States Army unit which is part of the 22d Corps Signal Brigade located at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington. Its mission is to rapidly deploy worldwide to engineer, install, operate, maintain, and defe ...
(located at Joint Base Lewis–McChord
Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM) is a U.S. military installation home to I Corps and 62nd Airlift Wing located south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Joint Base Headquarters, Joint Base Lewis–Mc ...
, WA)
**63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion
The 63d Expeditionary Signal Battalion is headquartered and located on Fort Gordon, however relocating to Fort Stewart, Georgia and is a subordinate unit of the 35th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade. On order, 63d Expeditionary Signal Battalion ra ...
**67th Expeditionary Signal Battalion
The 67th Signal Battalion is an expeditionary signal battalion of the United States Army, part of the 35th Signal Brigade.
History
The 67th's activation took place May 1, 1943 in Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi 10 days ahead of its 1st birthday. T ...
) located at Fort Stewart
Fort Stewart is a United States Army post in the U.S. state of Georgia. It lies primarily in Liberty and Bryan counties, but also extends into smaller portions of Evans, Long and Tattnall counties. The population was 11,205 at the 2000 census. Th ...
, GA)
*480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing
The 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing (480th ISR Wing) is headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.
Mission
The 480th ISR Wing leads Air Force globally networked ISR operations. The wing operates and maintains t ...
USAF
*513th Military Intelligence Brigade
The 513th Military Intelligence Brigade is a unit of the United States Army and subordinate to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. Its mission is to provide "tailored, multi-disciplined intelligence and intelligence capabilities in su ...
** 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion
**297th Military Intelligence Battalion
{{Infobox military unit
, unit_name = 297th Military Intelligence Battalion
, image = 297th MI BN DUI.svg
, image_size = 160
, caption = Distinctive Unit Insig ...
*35th Military Police Detachment Military units
*35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force
*35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I
*35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...
* 706th Military Intelligence Group
**707th Military Intelligence Battalion
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
* 7th Signal Command
* 359th Signal Brigade (USAR)
* 92nd Engineers Combat Heavy
*206th Military Intelligence Battalion
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
*31st Intelligence Squadron
31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32. It is a prime number.
In mathematics
31 is the 11th prime number. It is a superprime and a self prime (after 3, 5, and 7), as no integer added up to its base 10 digits ...
*324th Signal Battalion
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
* Cryptologic Support Battalion
* 338th Training Squadron (USAF)
*National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
/Central Security Service
The Central Security Service (CSS) is a combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense which was established in 1972 to integrate the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Components (SCC) of the United Sta ...
Georgia, formerly known as the Gordon Regional Security Operations Center.
*Naval Network Warfare Command
Naval Network Warfare Command (NETWARCOM) is the United States Navy's information operations, intelligence, networks, and space unit. Naval Network Warfare Command's mission is to execute, under Commander TENTH Fleet Operational Control, tactica ...
(Navy Information Operations Command, Georgia),
*Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
Marine Corps Intelligence is an element of the United States Intelligence Community. The Director of Intelligence supervises the Intelligence Department of HQMC and is responsible for policy, plans, programming, budgets, and staff supervision of ...
*Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center (EAMC) is a 93-bed medical treatment facility located on Fort Gordon, GA, located near Augusta, Georgia that previously served as the headquarters of the Army's Southeast Regional Medical Command (SER ...
(DDEAMC)
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.
Training and current activities
Fort Gordon is home to the US Army Signal and Cyber Schools. The Signal school focuses primarily on communications technology that is currently being utilized by the United States Army to provide the DODIN or Department of Defense Information Network, the platform for cyberspace operations. One MOS or Military Operational Specialty that is currently being trained at Fort Gordon by the Signal School are the Signal Support System Specialists whose MOS designation is 25U or 25 Uniform. Soldiers that can perform both Signal and Cyber related jobs are in high demand throughout the army and because of this Fort Gordon has a steady stream of soldiers training on base in those disciplines.
Future activities and facilities
Due to increases in the need and use of cyber technology the US Army decided to consolidate the United States Army Cyber Command
U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) conducts information dominance and cyberspace operations as the Army service component command of United States Cyber Command.The official regulation, General Order (DA GO 2016-11) was signed by the Secretary of ...
into one location. Fort Gordon along with Fort George Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...
were in the running to receive the command. In December 2013 it was announced that Fort Gordon was selected.
Berlin Wall display
In Freedom Park, located off Rice Road, across from Barton Field, is a display of two sections of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
, as well as a sign from the wall.
Proposed renaming
On May 24, 2022, the submitted a recommendation to Congress that Fort Gordon be renamed to Fort Eisenhower, in commemoration of General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
.
See also
* Cyber quest
References
External links
*
Fort Gordon Pictorial History Book
WW1 account of Life at Camp Gordon
Letters from Ward B Scripture of the 328th Infantry to his Mother during WW1"
"NSA Seeks to Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Surveillance Infrastructure," ''The Peacock Report'', April 20, 2006
Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center
CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon
– Group that sought to keep Fort Gordon open during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...
round
U.S. Army Signal Corps OCS Association
Fort Gordon Directorate of Morale, Welfare and Recreation
New Georgia Encyclopedia information
Battle Command Battle Lab
Camp Gordon
historical marker
Columbia County CVB official website
{{Authority control
Gordon
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordon, ...
Training installations of the United States Army
Military intelligence collection
Gordon
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordon, ...
Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia
Economy of Augusta, Georgia
Buildings and structures in Richmond County, Georgia
Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Georgia
Buildings and structures in McDuffie County, Georgia
Buildings and structures in Columbia County, Georgia
1941 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Military installations established in 1941