West Fort Hood is an underground weapons storage area adjacent to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Originally built in the late 1940s by the United States Air Force, it was adjacent to Gray Air Force Base. On 15 June 1963 Killeen Base was turned over to the Army, and in October 1969, Killeen Base was designated as West Fort Hood and the airfield's name was designated as Robert Gray Army Airfield. It is also home to the Army Operational Test Command.
The tunnel corridors are each 20 feet wide with 30 foot ceilings that penetrate to a depth of 80 plus feet below the mountain top, with 2-foot-thick concrete walls dug nearly 1,000 feet into the hillside.
Interspersed throughout the complex are rooms of various sizes that are still equipped with steel rails for overhead cranes.
The complex is now used for tunnel warfare training by various units stationed at Fort Cavazos including the Ironhawk Troop in the Third Cavalry Regiment [1] [2]
Killeen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Bell County. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Cavazos Metropolitan Statistical Area. Killeen is 55 miles (89 km) north of Austin, 125 miles (201 km) southwest of Dallas, and 125 miles (201 km) northeast of San Antonio.
Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. Formerly named Fort Hood for Confederate General John Bell Hood, the post is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about 60 mi (97 km) from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters of III Armored Corps and First Army Division West and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division and 3rd Cavalry Regiment, among others.
Nellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in "Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace", associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.
III Corps is a corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It is a major formation of the United States Army Forces Command.
Sandia Base was the principal nuclear weapons installation of the United States Department of Defense from 1946 to 1971. It was located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico. For 25 years, the top-secret Sandia Base and its subsidiary installation, Manzano Base, carried on the atomic weapons research, development, design, testing, and training commenced by the Manhattan Project during World War II. Fabrication, assembly, and storage of nuclear weapons was also done at Sandia Base. The base played a key role in the United States nuclear deterrence capability during the Cold War. In 1971 it was merged into Kirtland Air Force Base.
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth includes Carswell Field, a military airbase located 5 nautical miles west of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. This military airfield is operated by the United States Navy Reserve. It is located in the cities of Fort Worth, Westworth Village, and White Settlement in the western part of the Fort Worth urban area.
Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings.
Killeen Regional Airport is a small military/commercial joint-use airport that operates alongside Robert Gray Army Airfield. The airport is based inside the south end of the Fort Cavazos Military Reservation, six nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Killeen, Texas, in unincorporated Bell County. The commercial side replaced the old Killeen Municipal Airport in August, 2004 as that airport was unable to expand. Formerly Killeen–Fort Hood Regional Airport, on 26 September, 2023, the airport began the multi-month process of renaming to "Killeen Regional Airport", as approved by the Killeen City Council.
Robert Gray Army Airfield is a military joint-use airport that operates alongside Killeen Regional Airport. The airport is based inside the south end of the Fort Hood Military Reservation, six nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Killeen, Texas, in unincorporated Bell County.
The 12th Cavalry is a cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It is currently stationed at Fort Cavazos.
The 3rd Combat Weather Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force. It was formed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, on 24 June 1937, as part of the Signal Corps. The 3rd was one of three original squadrons that eventually transferred from the Signal Corps to the Air Corps. Currently located at West Fort Hood, the 3rd Combat Weather Squadron is aligned under the 5th Combat Weather Group. Weather support to Fort Hood began in 1947 at the newly constructed Killeen AFB. Today, the 3rd Combat Weather Squadron—in addition to providing weather support to the Fort Cavazos complex—has operating locations at Forts Bliss, Huachuca, Riley, and Sill in Texas, Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma, respectively.
The Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center is a United States Department of Defense medical facility at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It provides medical care to servicemembers and their families, along with veterans and their dependents, in and around the largest U.S. military installation in the world. Named after inventor of water chlorination Brigadier General Carl Rogers Darnall, MD., the core of the medical center is a state of the art 947,000-square-foot hospital. The facility opened in 2016, and includes a full primary care and emergency medical facility, including a level III trauma center, and specialized care in obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopedics, and behavioral health. The hospital provides treatment to nearly 3,000 patients daily. The medical center is one of the largest in the Military Health System, comprising more than 105 buildings in addition to the main facility, spread over Fort Cavazos, three local communities, and a clinic at the Red River Army Depot in Bowie County, Texas, outside of Texarkana. The medical center and its outlying facilities are staffed nearly entirely by uniformed servicemembers of the U.S. Army, however in 2019, the administrative control of the facility was shifted from United States Army Medical Command to the Defense Health Agency, an integrated joint Department of Defense combat support agency. All patients of the facility are insured and billed through Tricare, the health insurance system of the DoD. The medical center is led by Colonel Richard G. Malish.
Richard Edward Cavazos was a United States Army 4-star general. He was a Korean War recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross as a first lieutenant and advanced in rank to become the United States Army's first Hispanic four-star general. During the Vietnam War, as a lieutenant colonel, Cavazos was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross. In 1976, Cavazos became the first Mexican-American to reach the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. Cavazos served for 33 years, with his final command as head of the United States Army Forces Command. On May 25, 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that Fort Hood be renamed to Fort Cavazos, in recognition of Gen. Cavazos' military service. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the renaming on October 6, 2022. The re-designation as Fort Cavazos occurred on May 9, 2023.
The 229th Aviation Regiment is an aviation unit of the United States Army.
Raúl G. Villaronga was a United States Army officer who was the first Puerto Rican mayor of a Texas city. He served as mayor of Killeen, Texas, for three consecutive terms, from 1992 to 1998.
Texas A&M University–Central Texas is a public university in Killeen, Texas. It is one of the newest members of The Texas A&M University System. Founded in 1999 as a branch of Tarleton State University, it became an independent member of the Texas A&M University System in September 2009. A&M-Central Texas is an upper division college, meaning its students must complete their freshman and sophomore-level coursework at a two-year college or other institution of higher education. Texas A&M–Central Texas primarily serves non-traditional students: The average age of the student body is 34, 40% of students are affiliated with the US military, and most students attend part-time. Texas A&M–Central Texas' students are known as the Warriors, and the school colors are navy blue, maroon, and silver. The university has a main campus, an extension building in north Killeen, and a site location on the United States Army post at Fort Cavazos.
Hicks Field is a former World War I military airfield, located 5.6 miles (9.0 km) North-northwest of Saginaw, Texas. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1917 until 1920. It was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
Yoakum–DeFrenn Army Heliport is a military airport located at the U.S. Army's Fort Cavazos, in Killeen, Texas, U.S. Formerly Hood Army Airfield, the airport was renamed on 4 May 2023 in honor of Keith Yoakum and Jason DeFrenn.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to infrastructure of the U.S. state of Washington.