Fort Dix is a United States Army Base and under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC). The host unit at Dix is the United States Air Force 87th Air Base Wing (87 ABW).
Location
Fort Dix is located in Pemberton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.
History
Fort Dix is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. During his distinguished public career, he was a United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, Minister to France and Governor of New York. Construction began in June 1917, and on July 18 the War Department named the cantonment Camp Dix. During World War I, Camp Dix was a training and staging ground for the 78th, 87th and 34th Divisions. Camp Dix grew quickly and became the largest military reservation in the Northeast. Following the armistice, the camp became a demobilization center.
On 8 March 1939, Camp Dix became Fort Dix as the installation became a permanent Army post. Fort Dix served as a reception and training center for men inducted under the draft of 1939. Ten divisions and many smaller units trained and staged here before entering the battlefields of World War II. At the end of the war, the reception center became the separation center, returning more than 1.2 million Soldiers to civilian life.
Because of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations of 1988, Fort Dix again ended its active Army training mission and became a major center for the training, mobilization, deployment, and demobilization of reserve component forces.
Under the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommendations of 2005, Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, and the Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst formed a joint operation for base operations under Air Force lead.
The 60-square miles of contiguous land was the first and only Air Force-Army-Navy installation with significant Marine Corps and Coast Guard assets. The tri-base complex became a blend of Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard military personnel.
Fort Dix was consolidated with two adjoining U.S. Air Force and Navy facilities to became part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JB MDL) on October 1, 2009. However, it remains commonly known as Fort Dix as of 2012.
Mission
Fort Dix’s mission is to provide supervision, training, guidance, financial management, administrative and logistical support, and other services and support activities.
Primary missions include being a center of excellence for training, mobilizing and deploying Army Reserve and National Guard units, providing regional base operations support to on-post and off-post active and reserve component units of all services, and providing a high-quality community environment, including 848 housing units, for service members and their families
Contact Information