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~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Fort Jackson, South Carolina 
Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training (BCT), and is located in Columbia, South Carolina. Fort Jackson is the largest and most active Initial Entry Training Center in the U.S. Army, training 34.9 percent of all soldiers and 69 percent of the women entering the Army each year. Providing the Army with new soldiers is the post's primary mission. Accomplishing this mission means training in excess of 45,000 basic training and advanced individual training soldiers annually. The training is provided by the 165th, 171st, and 193rd Infantry Brigades. 
In 1916 the civic leaders of Columbia realized that war with the Central Powers in Europe was imminent, and that the country badly needed new, large training camps. The Chamber of Commerce leaders proposed to General Leonard Wood of New York, commander of all Army installations in the East, that the vast Estate of South Carolina great Wade Hampton would be an ideal site for a training camp. General Wood sent Major Charles E. Kilbourne to examine the site.
On 19 May 1917, Major Douglas MacArthur announced that one of the 16 National cantonments would be constructed near Columbia, South Carolina.
The Columbia Chamber of Commerce appointed a Cantonment Commission that solicited funds from town fathers and quickly raised the $59,000 asked by the Hampton Estate to turn the property over to the government. Columbia residents donated 1,192 acres; the Federal Government later acquired by purchase some 19,742 acres more, and by lease still other thousands.
On 2 June 1917, Congressional approval of a plan to place a training center on the site Major Kilbourne had investigated was secured by the War Department. Three days later the men of the nation registered for the draft. 
Camp Jackson, South Carolina, was established and named in July 1917 as a World War I training camp pursuant to General Orders No. 95, War Department, 18 July 1917. It was named in honor of Andrew Jackson, Major General of the Army, a hero in the Battle of New Orleans, and the seventh President of the United States (from 1829 to 1837). Prior to this time it was known as the 6th National Army Cantonment, or “The Cantonment.” Learn More About The History Of Fort Jackson HERE!!
Providing the Army with trained, disciplined, motivated and physically fit warriors who espouse the Army's core values and are focused on teamwork Fort Jackson's primary mission. The fort includes more than 52,000 acres, including more than 100 ranges and field training sites and 1,160 buildings. Soldiers, civilians, retirees and family members make up the Fort Jackson community that continues to grow in numbers and facilities. More than 3,900 active duty Soldiers and their 14,000 family members are assigned to the installation and make this area their home. Fort Jackson employs almost 5,200 civilians and provides services for more than 36,000 retirees and their family members. 
The post has other missions as well. Fort Jackson is home to the U.S. Army Soldier Support Institute, the U.S. Army Chaplains Center and School and the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (formerly the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute). The fort will continue to grow in the coming years as a result of the recent Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s decision to make Fort Jackson the home of the Army’s only Drill Sergeant School, the Department of Defense Joint Center of Excellence for Military Chaplaincy and one of four new Regional Readiness Sustainment Commands. 
Other expansion and improvement projects have been completed or are in progress. Within the last three years new projects included a Post Exchange complex, an Emergency Services Center and a Navy Reserve Center. A $4.5 million family water park opened in the summer of 2004 and a new barracks complex and central energy plant costing $59 million will open soon. 
Learn More About Fort Jackson HERE!!
The mission of the Chaplain Center and School is to train chaplains and chaplain assistants who provide religious support to American soldiers and their family members throughout the world.
The U.S. Army Chaplain School was created out of a need to adequately train chaplains to staff the large military force which the United States was creating in 1917, for service in World War I. The plan for the school was developed by Chaplain (MAJ) Aldred A. Pruden. The Army Chaplain Museum is located at the school. 
The mission of The U. S. Army Chaplain Museum is to collect, conserve, and display artifacts of the US Army Chaplaincy's past as the foundation of its future. Visit The U.S. Army Chaplain Museum HERE!!
FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before.
Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun! We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity. We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon. We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way. God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always |
