NAVAL AIR STATION CORPUS CHRISTI

verted at Charleston Naval Shipyard and in December 1965, re-commissioned by the Army as the Army’s first floating helicopter maintenance facility as the USNS Corpus Christi Bay. It operated in Southeast Asian waters during the Vietnam War and was manned by Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center personnel.

Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD)

Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) is the largest tenant organization on Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NASCC) with more than 158 acres, 60 buildings and 2.3 million sq. Feet of industrial space. With a workforce of more that 6000 civilian employees and contractors and an annual impact of more than $2.5 billion, CCAD is the largest industrial employer and economic engine for the South Texas region. Offering virtually year round ideal weather for flight testing, CCAD is the Department of Defense’s primary facility for joint services of rotary wing and component repair.

CCAD ensures aviation readiness through overhaul, repair, modification, recapitalization, retrofitting, testing and modernization of helicopters, engines and components or rotary-wing aircraft of all services, including world-wide onsite field maintenance teams, analytical crash investigations and chemical material process facilities. CCAD serves as a depot training base for active duty Army, National Guard, Reserve and foreign military personnel.

Corpus Christi Army Depot also performs depot-level maintenance and repair, modernization and recapitalization on the following aircraft: UH-60 Black- hawk, AH-64 Apache; CH-47 Chinook; USAF HH-60 Pavehawk, and the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. Additionally, with more unmanned aerial systems (UAS’s) used by the military, the depot is taking on new challenges with the UAS Shadow, setting the stage for additional platforms that are changing the face of combat. ey operated an aircraft overhaul and repair facility here until June 30, 1959, when the operation was shut down, putting 3, 000 people out of work. e facility sat idle for nearly two years until the Army took possession of the large hangars and other buildings located on a 15-acre tract. e Army Aeronautical Depot Maintenance Center began rehiring some of the trained civilian employees. When it opened its doors, maintenance center was tasked with helicopter repair and maintenance for three engines and four airframes. e first UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) helicopter was overhauled in 1962 and by 1968 the facility was in full operation, providing repair and overhaul services to approximately 400 helicopters.

In the early 1940s, the area which is now the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station was developed to train Navy aviators to fly seaplane and carrier-based aircraft.

In August 1964, the USS Albermale, a Navy seaplane tendership was con- e ship was deactivated in 1975. e ship bell from the USS Albermale was presented to the depot and is displayed at the main entrance to Corpus Christi Army Depot Headquarters. In 1974, the facility’s name was changed to the Corpus Christi Army Depot, and it employed more than 4, 500 civilian employees to serve the growing Army inventory of helicopters.

Fleet Logistics Center

e Fleet Logistics Center Jacksonville Detachment NAS Corpus Christi is located in Building 10, on Ocean Drive. e detachment provides logistics support for NAS Corpus Christi and its tenant activities. e Procurement Division is responsible for purchasing open market goods and services for Navy customers throughout the state of Texas.

Marine Aviation Training Support Group Twenty-Two

Marine Aviation Training Support Group Twenty-Two is a shore activity responsible for providing administration support for Marine Corps personnel within its area of responsibility. Under the operational control of the Marine Corps Training Command, it coordinates it administrative mission through the use of Marine liaisons at NAS Kingsville, Texas; Vance AFB, Okla; and NASA, Houston. To reach the Training Support Group office, call (361) 961-3484.

Marine Corps Reserve Training Center

e Marine Corps Reserve Training Center at NAS Corpus Christi is the home of Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division. e unit is a Marine infantry company with two of its platoons located in Harlingen, Texas. Members of the unit have deployed in the past five years, twice to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. e company drills one weekend a month for training, and the inspector-instructor staff provides administrative support such as humanitarian transfers, discharges and assistance with military identification cards for active duty and retired Marines and their dependents. Members of the unit also provide casualty assistance when needed. For further information about the training center, call (361) 961-3235.

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi

e U.S. Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi, located in Hangar 41, is responsible for search and rescue in an area extending from the Colorado River to the Mexican border, making it the southernmost, major unit in the Eighth Coast Guard District. e unit, as it exists today, was formed in 1978 after combining assets and personnel from Group and Air Station Corpus Christi into one command. In 2005, the Group, Air Station, and Marine Safety Office combined to form Sector Corpus Christi. Today, there are five cutters, six aircraft, 20 small boats and more than

450 men and women who are under the Sector command located aboard Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. Outlying units include three small boat stations, five cutters, two LORAN stations, two Coast Guard Auxiliary divisions and three Aids to Navigation Teams.

In addition to search and rescue, the unit is responsible for marine safety and environmental protection, law enforcement, and maintaining aids to navigation.

Boat crews and air crews are ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond, within 30 minutes, to calls for assistance. e unit's small boats are deployed for an average annual total of7,800 hours. Its five cutters log more than 5,200 at-sea hours per year, and Air Station crews fly an aver age of 5,176 hours per year. Coast Guard Auxiliary units also augment active duty units with 4,000 boat hours and 600 air craft hours annually, performing various Coast Guard missions.

Members of the military community and general public are invited to tour the Coast Guard facilities by contacting its public affairs office at (361) 939-6227.

Customs and Border Protection-National Air Security Operational Center

Flying five P-3 Orion Command and Control aircraft and five Surveillance and Intercept aircraft out of NAS Cor- pus Christi, CBP NASOC is responsible for detecting, identifying and tracking aircraft used to smuggle drugs into the United States. It also provides the Department of Homeland Security aerial protection for critical national infrastructures, and helps protect the President and Vice President when they are airborne.

Its area of responsibility includes the entire Western Hemisphere with P-3 aircraft routinely operating from regions of Alaska and Canada, south through the continental United States to the equatorial and Andean ridge latitudes. e aircraft have been re positioned as far south as Paraguay, as far west as Hawaii, and as far east as Europe.

With a staff of only 129 people, this organization has been responsible for making a considerable dent in the drug trafficking trade. Since June 1987, Surveillance Branch-West has been responsible for the seizure of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of well more than $4.8 billion at current market value.

Customs and Border Protection counter drug air and marine detection, surveillance and intelligence operations have resulted in the arrest of 888 individuals suspected of involvement in smuggling activities; and the seizure of200 aircraft, 213 vehicles, 126 vessels, and one million pounds of marijuana and 555,000 pounds of cocaine.