MILITARY PRESENCE
EACH BRANCH OF THE ARMED SERVICES HAS A PRESENCE IN HAMPTON ROADS
Hampton Roads is the East Coast epicenter of military activity. Every branch of the armed services is represented here, including the largest Navy base in the world at Norfolk. Apart from a high number of uniformed personnel, the region is home to a growing veteran population.
More than 80,000 military personnel live and work in Hampton Roads. That presence, coupled with major defense contractors, is a major economic driver.
The military focal point on the Peninsula is Joint Base Langley-Eustis, which really isn’t a single place. The name refers to separate bases about 17 miles apart that are partially managed under a joint agreement: the Army’s Fort Eustis in Newport News and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton.
The bases together have about 15,000 military personnel, 6,000 civilian workers and 33,700 dependents, according to the 2016 Joint Base Langley-Eustis Economic Impact Analysis. In all, JBLE had a total economic impact of $2.1 billion. That includes annual payroll, expenses and the value of jobs created.
South Hampton Roads is Navy country. Besides the world’s largest naval base, it is home to the Navy’s major East Coast jet base.
Here’s a roundup of our installations:
Langley Air Force Base, Hampton. Established more than 100 years ago as Langley Field, this installation played a major role in the development of U.S. air power. The base merged some functions with the Army’s Fort Eustis in Newport News in 2010, as part of an efficiency move. Together they are called Joint Base Langley Eustis, but each facility retains its distinct identity. Main units on Langley AFB are Air Combat Command headquarters, 480th Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Wing, 1st Fighter Wing and 633rd Air Base Wing. Langley’s 1st Fighter Wing operates and maintains the F-22 Raptors flown by the 27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons. The Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Fighter Wing moved from Richmond to Langley AFB in 2007, and began flying Raptors alongside active-duty airmen.
Fort Eustis, Newport News. Fort Eustis is named for Brevet Brig. Gen. Abraham Eustis, a Virginia native and veteran of the War of 1812. It was established two years after Langley, but the installation is believed to maintain one of the oldest Department of Defense structures. The Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary is headquartered there. Home of the Army’s navy, the brigade is one of the most deployed units in the Army. Just inside its gates is the Army Transportation Museum. One of its largest “tenants” is the headquarters of Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, which handles the Army’s training and future planning.
Naval Station Norfolk. The largest naval complex in the world is the only East Coast home-port for the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. It is also the home of Chambers Field. It is the Navy’s logistical focal point for operations going to Europe and the Middle East. Roughly 46,000 active-duty sailors and another 21,000 civilians are based at the station, according to the Hampton Roads chamber.
Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia
Beach. Once a swampy wasteland and now a master jet base, this installation is home to the Super Hornet, which flies combat missions from aircraft carriers. It employs around 10,600 active-duty military, civilian
personnel and reservists. Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek
Fort Story. This joint Navy-Army base was established in October 2009. It consists of the former Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and the Army post Fort Story. Little Creek began as a training ground for World War II amphibious forces and today is home to squadrons of Navy SEALs. It has 18 ships home-ported there, including Landing Crafts, Air Cushioned (LCACs) and conventional waterborne Landing Crafts Utility (LCUs), plus smaller boats.
Coast Guard Training Center, York
town. It is a training facility for the Coast Guard as well as some foreign troops.
Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. The Navy stores, maintains and loads bombs, missiles and other ordnance for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet at this base. The station manages the adjacent storage facility formerly known as Cheatham Annex in York County.
Camp Peary, Williamsburg. This officially is named the Armed Forces Experimental Training Activity. Don’t tell anyone, but the CIA uses this 10,000-acre camp as a training center. Little is publicly known about the place. Neighbors have said they hear loud explosions coming from the camp, which is referred to as “The Farm.” The number of workers there is not divulged.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth.
This is one of the largest shipyards in the world. It specializes in repairing, overhauling and modernizing ships and submarines. It’s the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the Navy. In fact, it predates the formation of the U.S. Navy. It was established in 1767 as the Gosport Shipyard by a British sympathizer who fled at the start of the American Revolution.
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Occupying a 112-acre site along the Elizabeth River in downtown Portsmouth, the hospital is located on the original site of Fort Nelson, which was built in 1776 to provide harbor defense for Norfolk and Portsmouth. It is the U.S. Navy’s oldest hospital. The hospital and its branch clinics provide health care to the region’s active-duty service members, family members and military retirees. It is also one of three major teaching hospitals in the Navy.
Coast Guard, Atlantic Area, Portsmouth.
The Fifth Coast Guard District focuses on safety and security of the oceans, coastal areas and marine transportation system within the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.