Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst (JB MDL) is a United States military facility located southeast of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city, capital city (New Jersey), city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.

. The base is the only tri-service base in the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

and includes units from all six armed forces branches. The facility is an amalgamation of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

McGuire Air Force Base McGuire AFB/McGuire, the common name of the McGuire unit of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Air Force base in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, approximately south-southeast of Trenton. McGuire is under the j ...

, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Fort Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst Lakehurst Maxfield Field, formerly known as Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst (NAES Lakehurst), is the naval component of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst (JB MDL), a United States Air Force-managed joint base headquartered approximate ...

, which were merged on 1 October 2009. It was established in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The legislation ordered the consolidation of the three facilities which were adjoining, but separate military installations, into a single joint base, one of 12 formed in the United States as a result of the law. The installation commander is Air Force Colonel B. Wesley Adams.

Overview

The 42,000-contiguous acres of JB MDL are home to more than 80 mission partners and 40 mission commanders providing a wide range of combat capability. The base spans more than 20 miles, from east to west. It is situated in the two largest counties in New Jersey, Burlington and

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

, and includes portions of eight municipalities: the borough of Wrightstown and the townships of New Hanover, North Hanover, Pemberton, and Springfield, in Burlington County, and the townships of Jackson,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, and Plumsted in Ocean County. The 87th Air Base Wing provides installation management support for 3,933 facilities with an approximate value of $9.3 billion in physical infrastructure. More than 44,000 airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, Coast Guardsmen, civilians, and their family members live and work on and around JB MDL, which has an economic impact on the state of New Jersey.

McGuire/McGuire AFB

: ''See:

for additional information and history.'' The base originated in 1941 as Fort Dix Army Air Force Base. Closed briefly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it reopened in 1948 as McGuire Air Force Base. The base was named after Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr.,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

recipient, and the second leading ace in American history.Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst McGuire
McGuire grew famous as the Air Force's "Gateway to the East", when its core mission became global mobility in 1945. In 1992, it became part of the newly reorganized Air Mobility Command. The

305th Air Mobility Wing The 305th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command. It generates, mobilizes and deploys C-17 Globemaster III and KC-10 Extender aircraft. T ...

served as the host wing from October 1994 to March 2009, when the newly activated 87th Air Base Wing assumed installation command. The 305th, along with the 108th Air Wing (ANG),

621st Contingency Response Wing The 621st Contingency Response Wing (621 CRW) is a United States Air Force rapid response expeditionary wing, based out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey and Travis Air Force Base, California highly-specialized in training and rapi ...

, and the

514th Air Mobility Wing The 514th Air Mobility Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force based at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The 514th is an associate Air Force reserve unit. The wing flies aircraft assigned to the active-duty 305th Air Mobili ...

(AFRES), has supported every major type of air mobility mission over the past 15 years.

McGuire organizations

* 87th Air Base Wing (Host organization for JB MDL) *

( C-17 Airlift,

KC-10 The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an American aerial refueling tanker aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). A military version of the three-engine DC-10 airliner, the KC-10 was developed from the Advanced Tanker Cargo A ...

Air Refueling operations for McGuire AFB/Lakehurst) *

(Rapid Response unit) *

( C-17 Airlift,

Air Refueling) (Air Force Reserve) *

108th Wing The 108th Wing is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard, one of the many units stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Comman ...

(

KC-135 The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...

Air Refueling, C-32B) (Air National Guard) *

57th Weapons Squadron The 57th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the USAF Weapons School, stationed at the McChord AFB component of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The squadron (aviation), squadron is a geographically separ ...

(

USAF Weapons School The USAF Weapons School is a unit of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, assigned to the 57th Wing and Space Delta 1. It is located at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Mission The mission of the USAF Weapons School is to teach gradua ...

C-17 training unit, GSU from

Nellis AFB Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) 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 O ...

, Nevada) * 314th Recruiting Squadron * Detachment 1, Civil Air Patrol * Detachment 1,

373rd Training Squadron 373rd or 373d may refer to: *373d Fighter Group, inactive United States Army Air Force unit *373d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group (ISRG), an Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency unit located at Misawa A ...

Source:

Dix

: ''See:

for additional information and history.'' The facility originated in 1917 as Camp Dix, named in honor of Major General

John Adams Dix John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was an American politician and military officer who was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and Union major general during the Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-South ...

, a veteran of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

and the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, and a former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

and Governor of New York.Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Dix
It was renamed Fort Dix in 1939. Dix has a history of mobilizing, training and demobilizing Soldiers from as early as

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

through the present day. In 1978, the first female recruits entered basic training at Fort Dix. In 1991, Dix trained

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

i civilians in basic military skills so they could take part in their country's liberation. Dix ended its active Army training mission in 1988 due to Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations. It began a new mission of mobilizing, deploying and demobilizing Soldiers and providing training areas for Army Reserve and

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...

Soldiers. In 1994, the

United States Air Force Expeditionary Center The United States Air Force Expeditionary Center is the Air Force's Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education. It consists of nine units with approximately 14,000 Airmen in 28 countries. History The U ...

was established as the Air Mobility Warfare Center on Dix.

Fort Dix organizations

Army Support Activity An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Marine Aircraft Group 49 Marine Aircraft Group 49 is a United States Marine Corps Reserve aviation unit based at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, New Jersey that is currently composed of squadrons that fly the MV-22B, CH-53E, AH-1Z, UH-1Y, UC-35D and UC-12F/W ai ...

* 99th Regional Support Command * 404th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) * 2d Brigade, 75th Division *

USCG Atlantic Strike Team The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

* U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center *

Military Entrance Processing Station The United States Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM) is a Major Command of the U.S. Department of Defense, which primarily screens and processes enlisted personnel applicants into the United States Armed Forces. USMEPCOM does ...

* NCO Academy *

Navy Operational Support Center A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It inc ...

174th Infantry Brigade The 174th Infantry Brigade is an infantry brigade of the United States Army based at the Fort Dix entity of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. A multi-component training unit, the brigade provides operational training and increased r ...

* Fleet Logistics Squadron (VR-64) *

244th Aviation Brigade The 244th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade is a Combat Aviation Brigade in the United States Army Reserve. It is one of two aviation brigades in the Army Reserve Aviation Command. The brigade moved from Fort Sheridan, IL to Aurora, IL i ...

* Battery G, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment *Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ), NJARNG *NJARNG Observer Coach/Trainer Operations Group Source:

Lakehurst

: ''See:

for additional information and history.'' CH-53E slingloads Humvee at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

Lakehurst history begins as a munitions-testing site for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

in 1916. It was then gained by the United States Army as Camp Kendrick during

. The

purchased the property in 1921 for use as an airship station and renamed it Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The Navy's lighter-than-air program was conducted at Lakehurst through the 1930s. It was the site of the 1937

LZ 129 Hindenburg LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' (; Registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the ''Hindenburg'' class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was de ...

airship disaster. During

, anti-submarine patrol blimps were operated from Lakehurst. Since the 1950s, Aviation Boatswain's Mates have been trained at Lakehurst to operate catapults and arresting systems on aircraft carriers. Lakehurst conducts the unique mission of supporting and developing the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment and Support Equipment for naval aviation. The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and the Advanced Arresting Gear system that will replace the existing steam catapults and the Mk-7 arresting gear are being developed and tested at Lakehurst at full-scale shipboard representative test facilities here.

Lakehurst organizations

NAVAIR The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...

NAWCAD The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to th ...

Center for Naval Educational Training, CNATT Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

* Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 21 (NMCB 21) * Army 1st Brigade Mid-Atlantic Recruiting Battalion * EAGLE FLAG * 1st Battalion (Assault), 150th Aviation Regiment, NJARNG Source:

History

The

Hindenburg disaster The ''Hindenburg'' disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' caught fire and was destroyed during its attemp ...

took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

Education

The

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

lists "Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst" in Burlington County as having its own school district.
Text list
/ref> Students attend area school district public schools, as the

Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...

(DoDEA) does not operate any schools on the joint base. Students in Lakehurst are zoned to Lakehurst School District and Manchester Township High School (of Manchester Township School District). Students on McGuire and Dix may attend one of the following, with all siblings in a family taking the same choice: North Hanover Township School District (Pre-Kindergarten through grade 6), Northern Burlington County Regional School District (grades 7-12), and Pemberton Township School District (K-12). - This is a

.mil The domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from ''military''. It was on ...

site.

References

External links

* *
Go.MDL.com
– 87th Force Support Squadron {{DEFAULTSORT:Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Buildings and structures in Burlington County, New Jersey Buildings and structures in Ocean County, New Jersey Joint bases of the U.S. Department of Defense Military installations in New Jersey 2009 establishments in New Jersey Wrightstown, New Jersey New Hanover Township, New Jersey North Hanover Township, New Jersey Pemberton Township, New Jersey Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey Jackson Township, New Jersey Manchester Township, New Jersey Plumsted Township, New Jersey