Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM) is a U.S. military installation home to

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Ar ...

and

62nd Airlift Wing The 62nd Airlift Wing, sometimes written as 62d Airlift Wing, (62 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington. It is assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force of Air Mobility Command and is activ ...

located south-southwest of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

under the jurisdiction of the

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, ...

Joint Base Headquarters, Joint Base Lewis–McChord. The facility is an amalgamation of the United States Army's Fort Lewis and the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

's McChord Air Force Base which merged on 1 February 2010 into a Joint Base as a result of

Base Realignment and Closure Commission 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 ...

recommendations of 2005. Joint Base Lewis–McChord is a training and mobilization center for all services and is the only Army

power projection Power projection (or force projection or strength projection), in international relations, is the capacity of a state to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory. The ability of a state to project its power into an area may serve as an ...

base west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

in the Continental United States. Its geographic location provides rapid access to the deepwater ports of Tacoma, Olympia, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

for deploying equipment. Units can be deployed from

McChord Field McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being worldw ...

, and individuals and small groups can also use nearby Sea-Tac Airport. The strategic location of the base provides Air Force units with the ability to conduct combat and humanitarian airlift with the

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of t ...

.Joint Base Lewis–McChord website
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History

Fort Lewis

In 1916, a combination of local civilian businessmen seeking the creation of a military base in the Puget Sound area and a military survey team approved a military post to be constructed near

American Lake American Lake is a lake located in Lakewood, Washington at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It is the largest natural lake in Pierce County. There are two public parks on the large lake: American Lake North Park & Marina, and Harry Todd Park. Both have l ...

. Businessmen and Washington voters approved a donation of the land near American Lake to the United States government. The base (then known as Camp Lewis) would serve as a vital training base for United States soldiers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. This base would be known as one of the most well managed and cheaply funded bases that were constructed during World War I. Additional construction of the camp would officially commemorate a renaming of Camp Lewis to Fort Lewis in 1927. The construction of the base also included the seizure of Nisqually tribe

reservation __NOTOC__ Reservation may refer to: Places Types of places: * Indian reservation, in the United States * Military base, often called reservations * Nature reserve Government and law * Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty * Reservation in India, ...

lands for their use as an artillery field. Legal seizure of the lands occurred through

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

and seizure, which resulted in tribal members being forced from their homes. Units trained at Fort Lewis would serve with distinction in both the Pacific and European theaters during World War II. Prisoner of war compounds were constructed to house German and Italian

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

until the end of the war. Fort Lewis units also participated in major operations in the modern-day, including

Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

and

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

McChord Air Force Base

McChord Air Force Base was originally named Tacoma Field in 1927 when a local voting measure voted to create a municipal airport. This airport would be purchased by the United States government in 1938 and renamed McChord Field in May 1938 in honor of Colonel William McChord, who had died in an aircraft accident in Virginia. The early work and construction of the base prior to the start of World War II occurred under the

Works Projects Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. McChord Field served as a critical piece of defense infrastructure during World War II, training bomber aircraft pilots who would participate in the

allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army ...

, southern France, and the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japa ...

. McChord Field became McChord Air Force Base in 1948 with the formation of the United States Air Force as a separate division of the armed forces from the United States Army. McChord Air Force Base served as an airlift base since the end of World War II. The base functions as a strategic airlift base participating in transport (such as in Operation Desert Shield), humanitarian (such as relief during 1992 typhoons, support during the eruption of

Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United St ...

in 1980, and support to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

after Hurricane Katrina), and air defense roles (such as military interception in the aftermath of the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

). Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base officially joined to form Joint Base Lewis McChord in 2010 following the apolitical Base Realignment and Closure Commissions recommendations in 2005.

Geography and environment

The large protected lands available to military reservations makes environmental protection significantly important worldwide. Both formerly named Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base lands have been used as areas to conduct significant environmental studies. The use of military equipment on the base reservation contains the potential to damage environmental habitats. United States military facilities have implemented and continue to implement practices that include environmental preservation and protections.

Joint Base Headquarters

The Joint Base Headquarters (JBHQ) operates the installation to support the warfighting units, their families and the extended military community. The mission of the JBHQ is to provide support to mission commanders and the joint base community, to serve as an enabler to the soldiers as they train and project America's combat power, and to make JBLM the station of choice for American soldiers and their families. With an Army joint base commander and an Air Force deputy joint base commander, the JBHQ supports the installation through directorates and agencies that provide a full range of city services and quality-of-life functions; everything from facility maintenance recreation and family programs to training support and emergency services. The major organizations that make up the bulk of the JBHQ include: * Directorates of Public Works: Logistics * Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation * Human Resources; Emergency Services * Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security (DPTMS) Additional staff offices that support the installation mission include the Joint Base Public Affairs Office, the Religious Support Office, the Resource Management Office, Equal Employment Opportunity Office, the Joint Base Safety Office and the Plans, Analysis and Integration Office. Other partners who work closely with the JBHQ include the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command and Joint Personal Property Shipping Office. Two military units support the JBHQ * 627th Air Base Group : Provides command and control and administrative oversight to the Airmen who perform installation support duties on behalf of the Joint Base Commander. * Headquarters and Headquarters Company, JBLM : Provides administrative oversight to the Army personnel in the JBHQ and supports newly arrived soldiers during their in-processing period. JBLM Service Members receive medical care through on-base facilities such as Madigan Army Medical Center, the Okubo Clinic, the Nisqually Clinic, and the McChord Clinic. In 2010, Joint Base Lewis–McChord was called the U.S. military's "most troubled base" 2010 by ''Stars and Stripes'' newspaper. By 2015, the base had changed its public image, winning recognition in the Army Communities of Excellence awards program with a Silver Award in 2012, and Bronze Awards in 2013 and 2014.

JBLM overview

JBLM has two Senior Service Component Commanders, one Army (Commander, I Corps) and one Air Force (Commander, 62nd Airlift Wing), and has more than 45,000 service members and civilian workers. The post supports over 120,000 military retirees and more than 29,000 family members living both on and off post. The base has a total active population of nearly 210,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest military installment worldwide by population. JBLM consists of four geographical areas, Lewis Main, Lewis North, McChord Field, and Yakima Training Center. Lewis Main, Lewis North and McChord Field cover over ; while Yakima Training Center covers . JBLM Lewis Main, Lewis North and McChord Field have abundant high-quality, close-in training areas, including 115 live-fire ranges. Additional training space is available at Yakima Training Center in eastern Washington, including maneuver areas and additional live-fire ranges. In 2009, the former Fort Lewis Regional Correctional Facility was remodeled and renamed the Northwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (NWJRCF). The facility houses minimum and medium security prisoners from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. JBLM Lewis North hosted the Leader Development and Assessment Course, a capstone program for the U.S. Army's ROTC program until it was relocated to Fort Knox, KY in 2014.

Camp Murray Camp Murray is located adjacent to Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington. It is home to the Washington Army National Guard, Washington State Guard and the Washington Air National Guard. See also * Washington National Guard Museum * Washingto ...

( Washington National Guard) is adjacent to the post.

References

External links

*
Joint Base Lewis–McChord – Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare & Recreation

Lewis Army Museum

McChord Air Museum
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joint Base Lewis-Mcchord * Joint bases of the U.S. Department of Defense Military installations in Washington (state) Military police of the United States United States Army Corrections Command Buildings and structures in Pierce County, Washington Buildings and structures in Thurston County, Washington Airports in Washington (state) Military units and formations established in 2010 2010 establishments in Washington (state)