Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center

On 5 April 1963, the Army broke ground at Fort Hood for the new Darnall Army Community Hospital, meant to replace a World War II era hospital. Constructed in the latest military design, the original building cost $6 million and was furnished with $6 million of equipment. Darnall was dedicated on 16 April 1965.

Darnall was the first of three permanent Army hospitals of the 200 to 300 bed size to open in the U.S. Built to support a one-division installation of 17,000 troops, the original structure was soon outgrown as Fort Hood expanded to a full-fledged Corps.

To meet the growing medical needs, the Army began a $49.7 million addition and reconstruction project in 1979 that was completed on 13 December 1984.

With the completion of the 1984 project, Darnall doubled in size. Outpatient clinic space tripled, the number of operating rooms increased from five to six, the number of delivery rooms from two to four, and a same day surgery Center with two smaller operating rooms was added. In addition, the entire interior of the original building was upgraded. By 1984, Darnall supported 39,000 active-duty personnel, 45,000 family members and 88,000 retired personnel and their family members residing in Fort Hood's 175 county support area.

In 2004 Darnall supported the deployment of the Texas National Guard and then its redeployment in December 2005. Since early 2003, more than 2,200 wounded and ill Soldiers evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan have passed through Darnall. This was the highest total nationally for an Army hospital and third highest facility in the country behind Walter Reed and Eisenhower medical centers.

On 1 May 2006, the Army redesignated the Darnall Army Community Hospital as the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. Also in 2006, the Army announced that the new Fort Hood master plan contained a 40-acre (160,000 m²) site near the Clear Creek Post Exchange for a new medical facility. Ground was broken for the new facility on December 6, 2010.[1] The new facility opened in 2016.

Darnall now supports the 1st Cavalry Division and a number of the III Corps separate brigades. Darnall covers more than 42,000 active duty personnel and more than 145,000 family members and veterans within a 40-mile (64 km) radius.

Darnall averages seven births a day. On an average day, the Darnall staff handle 3,867 outpatient visits, 26 surgeries, 31 admissions, 170 emergency department visits and fill 5,000 prescriptions.

• Darnall Army Medical Center