05-12-2023 MAW - Flipbook - Page 12
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Baltimore Sun Media | Friday, May 12, 2023
Soldiers take part in a deployment ceremony for the B-3-126th GSAB, which is an aviation unit of about 60 soldiers from the Maryland National Guard. They were being deployed to
Afghanistan. The ceremony was held at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. LLOYD FOX/BALTIMORE SUN
Bases
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in Frederick is now home to many biological defense programs. The National Interagency Biodefense Campus represents a
partnership for biodefense research that
will marshal research capabilities while
consolidating resources in response to the
nation’s changing needs, according to the
installation’s website. The Department
of Homeland Security, National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious
Diseases, Department of Agriculture and
the Center for Disease Control are joined
together at Fort Detrick.
Fort George G. Meade
Named for a Civil War general who
served as commander for the Army of the
Potomac, Fort George G. Meade makes up
a large portion of western Anne Arundel
County. Opened in 1917 as a training camp
for soldiers, it was used as a recruit training post and prisoner of war camp during
World War II. Today, it is known for being
the headquarters of the National Security
Agency, which it has been since 1957.
Considered the nation’s premier platform for intelligence, information and
cyber operations, Fort Meade is home to
several units and tenants, among them:
the U.S. Cyber Command, Army Cyber
Command, Defense Counterintelligence
and Security Agency, Defense Courier
Service, Defense Information Systems
Agency headquarters, Defense Information School, Army Public Health
Command and the U.S. Navy’s Cryptologic
Warfare Group Six. Fort Meade is Maryland’s largest employer with over 50,000
employees, the third largest workforce of
the Army’s facilities.
COAST GUARD
U.S. Coast Guard Yard and Surface Forces Logistics Center
Since it was established in 1899, the
Coast Guard Yard has built, repaired and
renovated ships for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Located on Curtis Bay in Baltimore, the
Coast Guard Yard is the Coast Guard’s only
shipbuilding and major repair facility. It
operates as a revolving fund activity with
an annual revenue of about $100 million.
In 2009, the Surface Forces Logistics
Center was established at the Coast Guard
Yard, uniting divided parts of the Coast
Guard’s fleet mission support system. It
is the single logistics center for the Coast
Guard’s surface fleet, providing engineering, maintenance, supply and technical
information services to more than 1,800
boats stationed throughout the U.S.
The 338-acre campus of the United
States Naval Academy is located on the
former grounds of Fort Severn, along the
Severn River in Annapolis, 33 miles east of
Washington, D.C., and 26 miles southeast
of Baltimore. The Naval Academy is the
second-oldest of the country’s five service
academies.
The Naval School moved from Philadelphia to Annapolis in 1845, under Secretary
of the Navy George Bancroft. Five years
later, it became the Naval Academy, with
a new curriculum requiring midshipmen
to study at the Academy for four years and
train aboard ships each summer. The Academy educates midshipmen for service in
the officer corps of the Navy and Marine
Corps.
Over the years, the student body has
grown from 50 to 4,000, and began accepting women in 1976. Females now comprise
20 percent of plebes entering the Academy.
The campus is a National Historic Landmark and home to many historic sites,
buildings and monuments.
Across the Severn River from the U.S.
Naval Academy is NSA Annapolis. Naval
support to midshipmen began in 1851,
six years after the founding of the Naval
Academy, when the USS Preble arrived
at what was then Fort Severn for duty as
the first training ship. In 1911, Annapolis
became the home of naval aviation, having
both the first naval air station and the first
flight from a naval air station. The first Yard
Patrol Craft arrived in 1939, and the Naval
Station began to take shape as we know it
today.
U.S. involvement in World War II led
to the establishment of the Severn River
Command in 1941. The Naval Air Facility
was reestablished at the present site of
the Naval Station later that same year. In
2006, the installation was commisioned
as the Naval Support Activity. The 2006
transition aimed to provide more efficient support of training midshipmen and
faculty, staff and family members at the
Naval Academy.
The facilities that fall under NSA Annapolis include military housing, the Fleet and
Family Support Center, the Navy Exchange
and the Commissary. Those organizations
also serve Annapolis-area service members
and their families.
Naval Support Activity — Annapolis
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NAVY
U.S. Naval Academy