Fort Dix, NJ (New Jersey)


Like any other government body, the U.S. Army needs to have a support activity that would let them be the ultimate weapon while still doing their duties to protect the interest of the citizens and of their country. Fort Dix is not just training the capabilities of their men but supports them as well. Through the support activity, they are conducting Reserve Component Training, Mobilization/Demobilization operations while facilitating the well-being of their soldiers, their families and all the civilians so they will have a secure and safe environment. Other than that, Fort Dix also plans and executes some other Army directed support missions and in turn, it operates and established a Joint Mobilization site.

History of Fort Dix

As a veteran of the war in 1812 and the civil war, Major General John Adams Dix became the inspiration of the Fort Dix. His distinguished public career as a Senator, Minister to France, Secretary of the Treasury and Governor of New York, he was able to spark an idea to build a support activity Fort that could serve a lot of soldiers. When the construction was done in July 1917, Fort Dix was called Camp Dix and it was the largest military reservation in the Northeast. Soon, it also became a demobilization center.

During the first years of its construction, Camp Dix is a training facility for active and reserve Army alike, as well as National Guard units. Its name was changed into Fort Dix when it became a permanent Army post. Since then, Fort Dix served as training center and reception for men that are inducted in the 1939 draft. There are ten divisions and other smaller units inside the Fort focused on training and staging soldiers before they are deployed into war. By the end of the war, the reception center of Fort Dix became a separation center where more than 1.2 million soldiers were returned to civilian life.

Years after, in 1947, Fort Dix became one basic training center and home of the 9th Infantry division. When this division was sent to Europe, it became the United States Army Training Center, Infantry and then expanded rapidly come the Vietnam war.

By 1990, Fort Dix became a more stable institution when it began its around-the-clock operations of deploying troops for the Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. A year later, it was chosen as a training facility for Kuwaiti civilians for basic military skills. Fort Dix has been focused on maintaining their training facilities for a lot of military occupational specialties that involves combat arms, combat service support branches and combat support.

Mission of Fort Dix

Fort Dix prides itself to being the Home of the Ultimate weapons of the United States. Like the other U.S. Army Support Activity base, it is focused on providing base operations that will let the soldiers undergo myriad tasks that will introduce them to personnel administration, finance, logistics management, facilities management, public affairs, maintenance and legal support. Providing world-class operations, Fort Dix has been recruiting civilians to military life and aims to attract interested Army Reserve into a training reservation.

The primary mission of Fort Dix is to be a center of excellence when it comes to training, mobilizing and deploying the Army Reserve as well as the National Guard Units while providing regional base operations that support on-post and off-post units of services of both active and reserve. It also aims to give high-quality community environment for the soldiers while they are inside the Fort. It is important for these soldiers to feel that they didnt leave home. That is why the facilities could accommodate their whole family with them. Since Fort Dix is merged with McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, it became the first base of its kind in the country.

Fort Dix believes that by housing these soldiers, they are creating a capability for America with a talent pool that transfers skills learned on the battle field to American industry. The recruitment process is just the beginning because the money that they have been collecting in the process is used to train the soldiers. They give back to the citizens by providing them the service that they deserve. The local community and its citizens serves as the resource that meets all the talent requirements of a civilian workplace.

Fort Dix is also centered on providing the necessary support to all the Army Reserve Soldiers as well as other units, facilities and equipment. It is not just about giving them support but letting them feel the importance of it. it is not enough to train them but to develop them into purpose-driven soldiers that are mindful of their duties as leaders called to serve in a safe and caring environment. Fort Dix believes that through this, their soldiers will be able to deliver the support and services that the citizens need as well, whenever and wherever they need them.

Facts and Figures

As of 2000, there have been 7,464 people living inside Fort Dix. That number would include 843 households and 714 families residing inside the Fort. Moreover, there are 1,106 housing units with variety of racial makeup. Most of them are white but there are also African Americans, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic or Latino.

The 843 households inside Fort Dix are not just composed of married men because there are those with no husband or wife and those who were non-families. It has a total land area of 11.2 square miles with an elevation of 130 feet. Fort Dix has a population density of 698 people per square mile. 83.1 percent of the residents inside are male while the remaining 16.9 percent are females. The median gross rent of Fort Dix in 2009 is $1,623.

By January 2011, the cost of living index inside Fort Dix is 105.9, which is more than the U.S. average of 100. Ancestries like German, Irish, Polish, Italian, English and Dutch can also be found inside the Fort.

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