Fort Ord was considered one of the most attractive of all U.S. Army posts, because of its weather and proximity to the beach. The Fort occupied roughly 28,000 acres, about the size of San Francisco. Fort Ord was appreciated as a training facility because of its wide variety of drill environments that incuded beach, forest and the ‘Impossible City”, a mock urban city that is still used for training by police and military forces.

In 1917, it was a field-artillery target range. In 1933, the artillery field became Camp Ord, named in honor of Union Army Maj. Gen. Edward Otho Cresap Ord, (1818-1883) a leader during the Civil War. In 1941, Camp Ord was officially named Fort Ord. During World War II, the concept of combat readiness training was introduced there and soldiers practiced attacking a small simulated German village called Krautville . After the D-Day invasion, POW German soldiers were interned at the Fort. During the 50s it was a staging area for units departing for the Korean War. During the Vietnam war, Fort Ord was a major training facility, that included drills in a mock Vietnamese village. The post continued as a center for instruction of basic and advanced infantrymen until 1976, when the training area was deactivated and the Fort again became the home of the The 7th Infantry Division, following their return from South Korea after twenty-five years in the Demilitarized Zone.

The final basic training classes were held in 1990. In 1994, Fort Ord was officially closed. The Fort was the largest U.S. military base to be closed at the time.

**Fort Huachuca, AZ