JOINT BASESan Antonio

Welcome to Joint Base San Antonio!

elcome to Joint Base San Antonio and the great state of Texas. e joint basing idea was born as a result of Congress authorizing the Department of Defense to conduct a Base Realignment and Closure Round (BRAC) in 2005. BRAC was implemented in the hope of achieving several goals: to eliminate excess infrastructure; to reshape the military; to pursue cooperation between all ve military services, or “jointness;” to optimize military readiness and to realize signi cant monetary savings in support of transforming the DoD.

BRAC 2005 was designed to recon gure current infrastructure into one in which operational capacity maximizes both war ghting capability and e ciency. By creating these joint organizational and basing solutions, DoD will facilitate multi-service missions, reduce waste and duplication of capabilities and services, save money, and free up resources to recruit quality people, modernize equipment and infrastructure and to develop the capabilities needed to meet 21st Century threats.

Under the BRAC Joint Basing plan for San Antonio, a city which at one time was home to ve military bases and is still aptly termed “Military City USA,” installation support functions at Fort Sam Houston have combined with those at Randolph and Lackland Air Force Bases to form the DoD’s largest military base organization, Joint Base San Antonio.

In San Antonio, 49 support functions at the three joint base installations are run by the 502nd Air Base Wing, a command headed by an Air Force brigadier general. e 502nd ABW encompasses three subordinate support groups - one at each of the three San Antonio military bases. Support functions are designated by the following categories:

• Command Support - safety, public a airs, legal, inspector general, procurement, chaplain, history and nancial management

• Community Services - morale, welfare & recreation, youth programs, family services and lodging operation

• Environmental Services - compliance, pollution prevention, conservation and restoration Facilities: utilities, pest control, custodial & refuse collection, grounds & pavement maintenance, real property leases and management & engineering

• Fire & Emergency Services - re department, emergency response services and readiness (crisis response)

• Housing - family housing and dormitory management

• Human Resources - military personnel and management analysis

• Information Technology - IT services

• Logistics - supply, munitions, laundry, vehicle operations and food services

• Operational Mission Services - air eld operations and small arms & ring ranges

• Security Services (Military Police) - law enforcement, physical security and installation protection

With the advent of joint basing, Fort Sam Houston now houses the Medical Education Training Campus (METC). is means all enlisted medical service members, from every branch of the military, train to become combat-capable medics and other medicallycentered technicians there.