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Joint Base San Antonio is largest installation

The three military bases in the San Antonio area — two Air Force and one Army — are miles apart, but their distance from one another didn’t stop the Defense Department from bringing them together.

Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston are now Joint Base San Antonio, the largest installation in the military and one of 12 joint bases mandated by the 2005 base realignment and closure process.

No other joint base has two Air Force bases, and only one other — Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. — has installations that don’t share a fence line. The three bases are separated by 15 to 25 miles each.

At full operational capacity, which should be reached by Oct. 1, Joint Base San Antonio will cover nearly 67 square miles and will be home to 80,000 military and civilian employees performing 211 missions. The number of students trained annually: 138,000.

Less than three hours away, Fort Hood has far more land — 340 square miles — but employs roughly 59,200 officers, soldiers and civilians, nearly 30,000 fewer than Joint Base San Antonio.

Running the joint base will be the 502nd Air Base Wing, commanded by Air Force Brig. Gen. Len Patrick.

“We’re going to have the culture and heritage of each of the three bases,” Patrick said. “The culture of Fort Sam Houston will not change. It will still be an Army base. The soldiers on Fort Sam Houston should not notice a difference in the services provided at Fort Sam Houston.”

The 8,000-member wing will oversee basic services, such as security, fire and emergency services, housing, logistics, facilities, financial and legal services, mail and community services, at all three installations.

Patrick, who has worked and lived on both of the Air Force bases and now has his 502nd headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, essentially will act as mayor of the joint base; each installation also will have a colonel to oversee its day-to-day activities.

The wing commander said he hopes to gain the trust of his mission partners at the three installations.

“What I need to do is set up processes for success,” Patrick said. “I would tell my partners that what they do will not be affected, and as the processes improve, things will get better.”

JOINT BASES

The 2005 base realignment and closure process formed 12 joint bases out of 26 installations. The joint bases:

— Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii

— Naval Base Guam-Andersen

— Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C.

— Naval Station Norfolk-Fort Story, Va.

— Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

— Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va.

— Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C.

— Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

— Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility Washington, Md.

— Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska

— Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland Air Force Base, Fort Sam Houston, Randolph Air Force Base)

— Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.