Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center

Fort Chaffee was originally named Camp Chaffee. The camp was named after Major General Adna R. Chaffee Jr., an artillery officer who, in Europe during World War I, determined that the cavalry was outmoded and, unlike other cavalry officers, advocated for the use of tanks.

The groundbreaking of Camp Chaffee was held on 20 September 1941, as part of the Department of War's preparations to double the size of the U.S. Army in the face of World War II. That month, the U.S. government paid $1,350,000 (equivalent to $23,466,176 in 2019) to acquire 15,163 acres (61.36 km²) from 712 property owners, including families, farms, businesses, churches, schools, and other government agencies. It took only sixteen months to build the entire base.[1] The first soldiers arrived on 7 December 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The installation was activated on March 27, 1942 and from 1942 to 1946, the 6th, 14th and 16th Armored Divisions trained there. The creation of the camp caused the nearby town of Barling to experience a tremendous boom in housing and businesses. Fort Chaffee also served as a prisoner-of-war-camp during World War II, housing 3,000 German prisoners of war.[1]

From 1948 to 1957, Chaffee was the home of the 5th Armored Division. On March 21, 1956, the name of Camp Chaffee was officially changed to Fort Chaffee in recognition of the permanent nature of the base. For four days in 1958, Chaffee was home to Elvis Presley, who as part of his induction into the Army received his first military haircut in Building 803. In 1959, the "Home of the U.S. Army Training Center, Field Artillery" moved from Fort Chaffee to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where it remains to this day.

This sign, titled "New Horizon" in front of Fort Chaffee showed the number of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees who had lived at the camp and had been subsequently resettled, as well as the number still living there.

Fort Chaffee served as a primary center for housing refugees three times; from 1975 to 1976 it was a processing center for refugees from Southeast Asia and held Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees after the Vietnam and Cambodia wars. The facility processed 50,809 refugees of the Vietnam War, giving them medical screenings, matching them with sponsors, and arranging for their resettlement in the United States. Among notable children of refugees born at Fort Chaffee was Dat Nguyen, who would later become an All-American linebacker at Texas A&M University and play professionally for the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1980, Fort Chaffee became a Cuban refugee resettlement center, holding 19,000 Cubans after the Mariel boatlift and briefly making the camp the 11th largest city in Arkansas. The Cubans were brought to the fort in early May, and there were delays in processing and resettlement caused by "bureaucratic setbacks and rumors (later prove true by refugee actions described herewith) that Chaffee was full of Cuban criminals released from prison by Fidel Castro."[2] On Sunday, June 1, the detainees rioted, destroying four barracks and fighting with State Police officers and National Guardsmen.[2] Sixty-two refugees were injured and 46 others were arrested.[2] After the riots, the previously unsecured facility was "turned into a prison, encircled with miles of concertina wire and 2,000 heavily-armed federal troops."[2] The riot was a major issue in Frank D. White's victory over Governor Bill Clinton in the November 1980 gubernatorial election.[2] Over two years, Fort Chaffee processed 25,390 Cuban refugees.[3]

In 1987, the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) began training soldiers at Chaffee. In 1993 the JRTC was transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana and in 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the closure of Fort Chaffee. The recommendation was approved with the condition that minimum essential ranges, facilities, and training areas were maintained as a Reserve component training enclave. On September 28, 1995, Fort Chaffee became a subinstallation of Fort Sill. In late 1995, the federal government declared 7,192 acres (29.10 km²) of Fort Chaffee's 76,075 acres (307.86 km²) to be surplus and turned the land over to the state, while the remaining 66,000 acres (270 km²) were turned over to the Arkansas National Guard for use as a training facility.

On September 27, 1997 command of Fort Chaffee was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Arkansas Army National Guard when the U.S. Army garrison was deactivated, with Fort Chaffee subsequently becoming the Chaffee Maneuver Training Center for Light Combat Forces, and later simply Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center. The Arkansas Air National Guard stationed at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Fort Smith has used the fort's Razorback Range for target practice with their A-10s until January 2014 when their mission changed, but Razorback Range remained under the control of the 188th Wing.[4]

On April 15, 2014 the Arkansas National Guard's new Fort Chaffee Combined Arms Collective Training Facility opened; the $26 million training center consisting of 18 buildings is meant to recreate a small city and includes 189 cameras.[5]

In September 2017, the Arkansas Air National Guard at Ebbing Air National Guard Base transferred Razorback Range back to the control of Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center.[6]