Fort Bliss - El Paso Military Base
Fort Bliss has called the El Paso area home for over 100 years. Fort Bliss is home to the Army's Air Defense Center and employs over 15,000 military and civilian employees, giving Fort Bliss a vast importance to the El Paso area, and pumping in over a billion dollars annually into the El Paso economy. Fort Bliss is host to over 30 foreign countries around the world for air defense training, with the countries of Japan and Germany holding the most contingents at Fort Bliss than any other country, and making Fort Bliss the largest Air Defense Training Facility in the entire world.
Named after Lieutenant Colonel William Bliss, a son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Fort Bliss came into existence in 1846. During the United States Civil War, Fort Bliss was used by the Confederate Army to launch attacks into the territories of New Mexico and Arizona, but Union forces from California quickly brought it to an end, with the Californian forces maintaining the garrison well into after the Civil War. Fort Bliss also played a major role in the Mexican Revolution, as Fort Bliss was the staging ground for the United States' Army expedition into Mexico to find outlaw Pancho Villa.
As technology during the 1900's began to increase and change the world, so did Fort Bliss. Fort Bliss went from a cavalry post to the air defense center it is today during the first two World Wars. Famed scientists, such as Wernher von Braun, came to Fort Bliss after World War II to help reverse engineer many German and Japanese technologies acquired after the war. As the Cold War progressed, Fort Bliss' role in Air Defense became vital to the nation, becoming the largest live-ammunition testing ground besides White Sands in New Mexico, which Fort Bliss neighbors.
Fort Bliss has faced many realignment and closure battles with the United States Government, with heavy hits to the base occurring in the 1980's and 1990's. Good news has come to the base in the 21st century, as Base Realignment has now favored Fort Bliss. Recommendations have been made to transfer a large number of soldiers to Fort Bliss from bases in Germany, along with troops from bases located in the United States, with soldiers from Fort Hood and Fort Sill being most effected the most. The new realignment plans call for an estimated 15,000 new military jobs to be created at Fort Bliss by 2011, bringing Fort Bliss' importance to El Paso on a scale never seen before. Look for Fort Bliss to continue to be a major role in the lives and economy of El Paso residents.
