Fort Allen (Puerto Rico)

For the 1770s fort in Pennsylvania, see Fort Allen (Pennsylvania).
Fort Allen
Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico
Type Military Base
Site information
Controlled by Puerto Rico National Guard
Site history
Built 1941
In use 1941-present
Garrison information
Garrison 35th Signal Battalion

Fort Allen, officially Fort Allen Training Center, is a Puerto Rico National Guard military installation located on a 921-acre plot of land in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico.

History

Current use

Fort Allen is a federal owned facility operated by the Puerto Rico National Guard (PRNG). Since 1980 Fort Allen has no Active Duty military personnel assigned on post, but there is Active Guard Reserve personnel permanently at Fort Allen. Its mission is educational in scope and that of providing support to the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve units stationed in southern Puerto Rico. The facilities at Fort Allen include classrooms, maintenance shops, an amphitheater, swimming pool, gym, recreational area, administrative offices, ID Card office, security office, barracks to house military personnel, chapel, dining facilities and a barber shop. There is not a Commissary at Fort Allen but NGX operates a PX on base for authorized patrons.

Units and tenant units

Army National Guard

U.S. Army Reserve

Hernan G Pesquera U.S. Army Reserve Center

LTC Hernan G. Pesquera United States Army Reserve Center (USARC) is located on 39 acres within the grounds of Fort Allen, Puerto Rico. This facility is named after Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel and federal judge Hernan Gregorio Pesquera.

Armed Forces Reserve Center

On March 4, 2011 a 55,037 square feet (5,113.1 m2) Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) was inaugurated at Fort Allen to relocate the U.S. Army Reserve 8th Multifunctional of the 180th Division and retention office. The Puerto Rico Army National Guard will locate the 201st Regiment Multifunctional Training Brigade to the Fort Allen Armed Forces Reserve Center. A 155 square feet (14.4 m2) Unheated storage building was also built. It also has a fitness room, locker rooms, weapons simulator, classrooms and private offices and an armory/vault. The Fort Allen Armed Forces Reserve Center can accommodate 150 Guard and Reserve Soldiers on a rotating basis, 126 military personnel per weekend.

This facility was dedicated posthumously to 6th Adjutant General of the Puerto Rico National Guard (PRNG) and founder of the Language Center at Fort Allen, Major General Salvador Padilla Escabi.

Officer Candidate School, NCO Academy & Language Center

The Puerto Rico Army National Guard Officer Candidate School, NCO Academy and the Language Center for the Puerto Rico Army and Air National Guard recruits are located at Fort Allen.

Over-the-horizon radar

The U.S Navy Relocatable Over the Horizon (ROTHR) receiver site was built in 1997 on government land at Fort Allen as part of a surveillance network which is designed to monitor flights over an area encompassing more than 1,000,000 square miles (2,600,000 km2) in South America. The (ROTHR) radar consists of 34 antennas and support structure from 71 to 123 feet (37 m) tall.

Youth Challenge Program

The National Guard Youth Challenge Program Community Outreach Youth Program came aboard to Fort Allen in 1999 to intervene and reclaim the lives of 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts, producing program graduates with the values, life skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as productive citizens. Participants of the Youth Challenge Program live in Fort Allen during the program.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Abbott, Elizabeth (2011). Haiti: A Shattered Nation. Rev. and updated from Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy (1988). New York: The Overlook Press. p. 183. ASIN B013JQLXKW. ISBN 978-1-59020-989-9. LCCN 2013496344. OCLC 859201061. OL 25772018M. Fort Allen boiled in the sun, and without trees or grass or shelter, the Haitians either sweltered or else sought refuge in the stifling tents. They ate adequately, but some of the men developed gynecomastia, or enlarged breasts. New York Congressman Robert Garcia remarked after his visit there, ‘The only difference between Attica and this place is that at one you have concrete walls and at the other barbed wire.’ Added Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar, ‘[Fort Allen] was very much like a concentration camp. These poor people are living, caged animals. Their souls are being taken away.’

External links

Coordinates: 18°00′25″N 66°30′00″W / 18.00694°N 66.50000°W / 18.00694; -66.50000

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