Camp Funston is a U.S. Army training camp located on the grounds of

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

, southwest of

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city in and the county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County, Kansas, Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big ...

. The camp was named for Brigadier General

Frederick Funston Frederick Funston (November 9, 1865 – February 19, 1917), also known as Fighting Fred Funston, was a General officer, general in the United States Army, best known for his roles in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American ...

(1865–1917). It is one of sixteen such camps that were established at the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

for use as infantry division training camps.

History

World War I

Construction began during the summer of 1917 and eventually encompassed approximately 1,400 buildings on . The Camp Funston garrison was administered by the 164th Depot Brigade, commanders of which included George King Hunter. Depot brigades were responsible for receiving, housing, equipping, and training enlistees and draftees, and for demobilizing them after the war. During World War I, two divisions commanded by Major General

Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, List of colonial governors of Cuba, Military Governor of Cuba, ...

, totaling nearly 50,000 recruits, trained at Camp Funston. Notable units who received training at Camp Funston include the 89th Division, which was deployed to France in the spring of 1918, the 10th Division and black soldiers assigned to the 92nd Division. During World War I, Camp Funston also served as a detention camp for

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion, religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for ...

(COs) many of which were Mennonite in faith. Since it was compulsory,

Hutterites Hutterites (; ), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptism, Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16 ...

sent their young men to military camps, but they did not allow them to obey any military commands or wear a uniform. In March 1918, some of the first recorded American cases of what came to be the worldwide

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

, also known as "

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

", were reported at Camp Funston. The first, on 4 March 1918, being Albert Gitchell, an army cook at Camp Funston, despite there having been cases before him. Within days of the 4 March first case at Camp Funston, 522 men at the camp had reported sick. In July 1921, Camp Funston was abandoned, with the Army salvaging most of the frame buildings (except those intended for the cavalry) but preserving the heating plant and waterworks for potential future emergencies. In December 1922, the Army sold the remaining barracks at the camp.

Correctional camp

Prior to October 1992, Camp Funston was the home of the United States Army Correctional Activity, formerly the U.S. Army Retraining Brigade, whose mission was officially to prepare military prisoners for transition to civilian life as useful citizens with general discharges or, in a few select cases, for return to duty. The Correctional Brigade environment was unique in that prisoner control was maintained by military discipline, instead of walls and bars, for most of the typical prisoners’ stay. The Correctional Brigade doctrine was that the minimum-custody/military discipline environment when coupled with correctional treatment, educational programs, and military and vocational training best prepared the typical first-time prisoner for a crime-free life after prison as either a productive soldier or a useful citizen in civilian life. Moreover, this correctional system was asserted to be less expensive to establish and operate than the traditional prison. The camp had a cinema that was open to the residents of Fort Riley, including those outside of Camp Funston.

Modern use

Camp Funston was the location where the training of all military transition teams for service in Iraq and Afghanistan took place. Previously, transition teams had been trained at several U.S. Army installations, most notably

Fort Carson, Colorado Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties, Colorado, United States. The developed portion of Fort Carson is located near the City of Colorado Sprin ...

; Camp Atterbury, Indiana;

Fort Hood, Texas Fort Cavazos is a United States Army Military installation, post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located ha ...

; and Camp Shelby, Mississippi. However, in early 2006, the U.S. Army decided to consolidate all training at

Fort Riley, Kansas Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

, in order to standardize and improve training for that critical mission. The first teams began training on June 1, 2006. The 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division took over command and control of the TT mission in October 2006. The brigade is responsible for the formation and training of the TT teams. This mission shifted to Fort Polk, Louisiana later in 2009.

References

External links