Fort Gordon

Construction on a $340 million, 500,000-square-foot National Security Agency/Central Security Service Georgia facility is under way and expected to be completed in 2010. It will bring as many as 1,000 more jobs.

Another project under construction is the $5.7 million Battle Command Battle Laboratory.

Communications and intelligence are not the only missions at Fort Gordon. The Army medical center forged a partnership with the Augusta Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in 2004 to create an active-duty rehabilitation wing at the VA. This partnership is the first of its kind, and in August, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., held a Veterans Affairs Committee field hearing in Augusta to examine it.

In September, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution to commend the two hospitals for their work.

Fort Gordon has many soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Among them are soldiers from the 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 67th Signal Battalion, Task Force Lightning and the 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion.

There are about 300 wounded warriors who are part of the Warrior in Transition Battalion stationed at Fort Gordon.

Fort Gordon's history dates to World War II, when land from several rural communities in Richmond County was obtained to build Camp Gordon in 1941. The move was not welcomed by all. There were many protests from those concerned about old estates, a church dating to 1789 and a cemetery with 150 graves in the Bath community, according to a history of Fort Gordon published by Fort Gordon's command historian office.

The camp was named after a Civil War commander from Georgia, Gen. John B. Gordon. One of the first units to train at the camp was the 4th Infantry Division. Its soldiers were among the first to land on Utah Beach during the D-Day Invasion of Normandy.

Also during World War II, German and Italian prisoners of war were housed at the camp. After World War II, there was a mass departure from the armed forces, leaving Camp Gordon a virtual ghost town and causing Augusta supporters of the base to become concerned about its future.

In 1948, the draft was re-established. With the Korean War on the horizon and the Cold War looming, Camp Gordon was once again a vital entity. A military police school came to the base, as did a Signal Corps training center.

Camp Gordon became Fort Gordon, a permanent installation, in 1956. The MP school moved to Fort McClellan, Ala., in the 1970s and the Signal Center made its home at Fort Gordon in 1974.

Today, Fort Gordon employs more than 2,900 civilians directly and has more than 2,700 contract workers. About 16,000 military personnel are assigned to the base, and more than 27,000 retirees and their family members are served by the post.

Fort Gordon has an economic impact of $1.3 billion.