Fort Hood

1942

During World War II, there developed a need for a military post to train soldiers in tank destroyer tactics. The area west and north of Killeen was selected as the site for Camp Hood. The initial Army installation covered 108,000 acres and was expanded to 160,000 acres in January 1943.

1946

Fort Hood became the permanent home of the 2nd Armored Division.

1947

Killeen Air Force Base was constructed for strategic bombers and atomic weapons capabilities. In 1963, it was turned over to the Army and subsequently renamed Robert Gray Army Airfi eld – the current site of the Joint Use Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport.

1950

The Department of the Army declared the Killeen military installation as a permanent post and it automatically became Fort Hood. Things started to boom for the area.

1954

III Corps Headquarters relocates to Fort Hood from California.

1954

In accordance with the Flood Control Act of 1946, Belton Lake is constructed. In 1962, construction began on Lampasas Lake which was completed in 1968 and subsequently renamed Stillhouse Hollow Lake.

1967

Fort Hood was offi cially designated a two-division post with the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions assigned. In 1971, the 1st Cavalry Division redeployed from Vietnam to Fort Hood, replacing the 1st Armored Division.

1995

The 4th Infantry Division was designated as the Army’s Experimental Force (EXFOR) for the Task Force XXI Digitization experiments and the 4ID replaced 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood.

On May 13, 2008, State Comptroller Susan Combs announced the following:

Fort Hood has a tremendous impact on Central Texas and the state as a whole – $10.9 billion – and it is expected to continue to grow.

The new impact figure was announced Tuesday, May 13, by Susan Combs, Texas State Comptroller, and Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of III Corps and Fort Hood. The conference was held in the III Corps headquarters building on the post.

Comptroller Combs also announced that the annual economic impact on the Central Texas region, those communities surrounding Fort Hood, is $7.1 billion.

Figures from the Comptroller’s office detail $4.4 billion in direct expenditures from Fort Hood, including military and civilian payrolls, contracts and purchases, construction costs, expenditures on school district impact aid and environmental initiatives.

“When indirect impacts of Fort Hood’s spending are considered, the statewide impact is $10.9 billion, 78.3 percent higher than the $6.1 billion impact the state showed in 2004,” Combs said.

The chart below shows the detailed data.

	2007 Direct Expenditure	2007 Total Statewide Economic Impact
Military and Civilian Pay	$3.75 billion	$9.70 billion
Military Constrution Projects	$0.19 billion	$0.33 billion
Contracts/Other Expenditures	$0.40 billion	$0.73 billion
Federal Impact Aid	$0.06 billion	$0.10 billion

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Fort Hood Major Unites and Authorized Strength

Unit	Authorized Strength
III Corps	855
1st Cavalry Division	18,855
1st Army Division West	636
13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary	4,237
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment	4,528
36th Engineer Brigade	2,265
89th Military Police Brigade	985
504th Battlefield Surveliance Brigade	1,421
69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade	1,673
41st Fires Brigade	1,831
Operational Test Command	301
21st Cavalry Brigade	72
US Army Garrison - Fort Hood	26
Medical Command/Dental Command	987
407th Army Field Support Command	16
48th Chemical Brigade	824
3rd Air Support Operations Group (USAF)	475
4th Aviation Brigade	2,717

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Authorizations Over Time

The success of Fort Hood and Killeen depend on the partnerships that community forms with the post.

• Joint-use regional airport
• Texas State Veteran's cemetery: 74 acres transferred to Texas Land Commission in January 2003; cemetery dedicated 2005
• Texas A&M University - Central Texas: Department of the Army donated land for the new campus.
• Central Texas College: Operates classrooms on Fort Hood
• Association of the US Army (AUSA): "Adopt a Fort Hood Unit" initiave, and Army Community Covenant "Best Practice" award.
• Fort Hood "Adopt a School" program: work in conjunction with seven school districts.