Category: New York

Located in the New York region , city Watervliet in the west bank of Hudson River , here lays the arsenal of the U.S army.Coordinations 42 ° 43’06 “N 73 ° 42’31” W .Being active since 1966 is the oldest arsenal in the U.S and it continuously produces the artillery for the army and gun tubes for tanks , cannons and mortars. It was declared by the U.S army a National Historic Landmark being on the biggest arsenal today in the U.S. It is primary to deal with the many attacks and this facility has it all.

Furthermore, going back in time, the amazing Watervliet Arsenal was constructed in 1813 so it can help in the War from 1812 .The name of Watervliet Arsenal was given in 1817.It occupies an area of 142 acres of land and its only 8 miles away ,North from Albany , New York. The place is fabulous and the Arsenal appears to be majestic somehow.

The arsenal also has important recruiting station of Albany and here we have the Recruiting Headquarter Station of the U.S Marine Corps.

Back between 1813-1823 the Watervliet Arsenal was choose to be build here because of the key location that the Hudson River gave , it`s only 60 miles distance to Lake Champlain , New York City is 140 miles distance and a very short distance if you take Mohawk River to get to Lake Ontario. During the war in 1812 , Decius Wadsworth was Colonel in Ordinance he designed the Watervliet Arsenal to produce ammunition and had the idea to even produce small articles for carriages , ladles , drag ropes , sponges, wormers and shot. Construction of the Arsenal began in 1813 summer time and the costs for the land at the time costs were 2.585$. This was somehow expensive.

The New York Military Academy (NYMA) was established on 1889 by a Civil War veteran named Charles Jefferson Wright whose main belief that a good military structure needs the best surrounding for military excellence. The academy is situated in 30 acres of land in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York at the base of Storm King Mountain and near the Hudson River.

New York Military Academy Facts

• Website: Visit Military Academy Website ›
• Location: West Point, New York
• Phone: (845) 938-4011
• Latitude: 41.386524
• Longitude: -73.965845
• DSN: 312-688-1110

NYMA started with 48 students and during its peak on 1960s has 525 students and as of 2010 they have 145 enrollees. NYMA starts from college preparatory school giving stress to military education to students from the New York and from around the world who wants to gain the best education a military can have. The academy is accredited by the New York State Department of Education and a member of Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges.

The NYMA has undergone extensive reconstruction program since it was caught in a disastrous fire. The academy is considered one of the oldest military academies in the country. It was on 1975 when the academy became a coeducational school giving chance to women who wants to be part of the military. It teaches the students the value of leadership and community awareness. The academy consists of 80% local enrollees and the rest are mixture of students from other parts of the world who believes in the quality of military education NYMA has.

A typical day at the academy starts at 6:00 am and ends at 10:00 pm by attending classes at day time and participating in different activities like sports and on weekends they are required to attend drill and ceremony, leadership training and cleaning their barracks. The military cadet with good scholastic standing can have their weekend leave.

NYMA who was striving because of the decrease in enrollment and lack of funds was saved by the academy’s alumni and local officials by raising a fund worth $6 million which is used in the rehabilitation of the Academy under the new management.

Fort Hamilton houses the United States Army Corps of Engineers which is located in the Bay Ridge of Brooklyn, New York and is one of the several units based in the region which is controlled by the Military District of Washington on October 1997 and Fort Hamilton became a unit of Installation Management Agency under the Army Transportation on October 2002.

Fort Hamilton Facts

• Website: Visit Fort Hamilton Website ›
• Location: Brooklyn, New York
• Phone: (718) 630-4101
• Latitude: 40.70625
• Longitude: -73.997177
• DSN: 232-4101

The military base mission is to grant New York City with military support for the United States Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. The base also houses the New York City Recruiting Battalion, Reserve Units, the Military Entrance Processing Station, the 722^nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron and the 1179^th Transportation Brigade.

The military base was named after Alexander Hamilton who was the first Secretary of Treasury of the United States. The famous military personalities who took control of the post were Captain Robert Lee who strengthened the defensive structures at the Narrows, First Lieutenant Thomas Jackson who was later called “Stonewall” and Captain Abner Doubleday who was often called the inventor of baseball and hero of Gettysburg.

The garrison of Fort Hamilton undergoes expansion while Fort Lafayette became the prison camp for the imprisoned Confederates during the Civil War. Being the only active installation in the area, Fort Hamilton performs all the duties the different installations usually do. There are different rehabilitations that were done at the Narrows, different structures were destroyed by Verrazano Narrows Bridge, Fort Lafayette included because it was near the Brooklyn shore.

It was in 1966 when efforts to save the historical structures started to unfold such as the Staten Island Fort Wadsworth Museum and the Army’s Harbor Defense Museum. There are also famous landmarks like the Robert Lee House and the Colonel’s Row which houses the elder military officers.  The original fort became the Officer’s Club which is now the place for the Community Club.

Fort Drum is a United States Army military installation that is situated in Jefferson County. It has a population of 12,123 in a 107, 265 acres of land. The installation houses the 10th Mountain Division, the US Army Materiel Command FSC, the American Red Cross, the 18th Weather Squadron Detachment and the 20th Air Support Squadron.

Fort Drum Facts

• Location: Jefferson County, New York
• Website: Visit Fort Drum Website ›
• Phone: (315) 772-6011
• Latitude: 44.059466
• Longitude: -75.716057
• DSN: 772-6011

Fort Drum was built on 1908 and was utilized as a training site since it was established. Its primary mission is to command of the active units assigned in the area, provides logistic and administrative support of its tenant units, and supports the active duty servicemen and reserves in their training of nearly 80,000 troops a year. Fort Drum’s popularity started in 1935 when about 36,000 soldiers from the northeast came to be part of the peaceful exercise which was held in Pine Plains and the nearby areas.

During World War II, Pine Camp undergoes expansion by purchasing 75,000 acres of land and within 10 months period with a budget of $20 million, the entire place which was used to be a farmland now houses the different units that were planned to undergo training. The 4th Armored Division, the 5th Armored Division and the 45th Infantry Division were the three units that trained at the Pine Camp.

It served also as the camp for the prisoners of war. On 1951, Pine Camp was named Camp Drum in honor of Lt.General Hugh A.Drum who led the First United States Army during the Second World War. It was changed to Fort Drum on 1974. The first units arrived on December 1984 and on February 1985 the units was activated and the unit was named as the 10th Mountain Division. New building, roads and housing units were built with a budget of 1.3 million between the periods of 1986 to 1992.