Fort Leonard Wood (military base)

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The headquarters building at Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood is a United States Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) post located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Wood, former Chief of Staff, in January 1941. Originally intended to train infantry troops, in 1941 it became an engineer training post with the creation of the Engineer Replacement Training Center. The post is commonly referred to as "Fort Lost in the Woods" amongst soldiers and visitors due to its remoteness and distance from a major metropolitan center.

Fort Leonard Wood offers BCT for most non-combat arms soldiers; and AIT for MOS 88M (motor transport operator) and non-combat engineer MOSes and OSUT training for combat engineers and bridging engineers (MOS 21B and 21C), chemical specialists (74D) and military police (31B & 31E). All training is gender integrated as in Fort Jackson, with the exception of combat engineers (i.e. MOS 21B is closed to women).

Those soldiers who fail their initial physical fitness assessment are sent to the Fitness Training Company to get in shape. They go to the PCU (Physical Condition Unit), which is one of three platoons, the others being PTRP (Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Program), which is where soldiers who were injured in basic training and AIT go to rehabilitate and go back to training, and Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) - Completion (APFT-C) which Soldiers who failed the APFT train to pass the APFT to graduate BCT or AIT. This is an alternative to being medically discharged.

[edit] Units

Fort Leonard Wood is home to the 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, which was formally activated on October 2nd, 2008.

Subordinate units include:

Headquarters and Headquarters company, 4th MEB
193rd Brigade Support Battalion
94th Signal Company

5th Engineer Battalion

94th Engineer Battalion

92nd Military Police Battalion

13th Military Police Company
463d Military Police Company
512th Military Police Company
988th Military Police Company

[edit] Transportation

Waynesville Regional Airport at Forney Field serves the community with air service; even though it's on Fort Leonard Wood, it is jointly run by the cities of Waynesville and St. Robert and is available for civilian use by private pilots and scheduled commercial passenger service.

The major east-west route is Interstate 44; before that, the main highway was U.S. Route 66, which still exists as a scenic route through the area and passes through Devil's Elbow, St. Robert, Waynesville, Buckhorn, and Hazelgreen. Names for U.S. Route 66 vary - at different places, it's called Teardrop Road, Highway Z, Old Route 66, Historic Route 66, and Highway 17. State-posted signs mark most of the alignment of the road.

Major north-south routes include:

Highway 133 runs north from Interstate 44 exit 145 about two miles east of Hazelgreen to Richland, Swedeborg, Crocker, and about two miles west of Dixon, then north out of the county.

Highway 7 runs north from Interstate 44 exit 150 about three miles west of Buckhorn to Richland, then north out of the county toward the Lake of the Ozarks region.

Highway 17 crosses Interstate 44 at exit 153 at Buckhorn, runs east through Waynesville, turns north to Crocker, and then runs north out of the county to Iberia. South of Interstate 44, Highway 17 hugs the western edge of Fort Leonard Wood, passes near Laquey, and circles south of the post until it runs out of the county and eventually joins Highway 32 in Roby.

Highway T runs north from Highway 17 at Waynesville to Swedeborg, where it meets and ends at Highway 133 about halfway between Richland and Crocker.

Highway 28 crosses Interstate 44 at exit 163 at the eastern edge of St. Robert, runs north through Dixon, and then runs north out of the county.

A secondary road parallels Highway 28, beginning as Highway Y at exit 161 of Interstate 44 in St. Robert, running north to the Gasconade River bridge where it becomes the county-maintained Cave Road and turning north as Highway O until it meets Highway 28 a few miles south of Dixon.

Major attractions along U.S. Route 66 include the Old Stagecoach Stop in downtown Waynesville, which is now a museum but began as a tavern and boarding house and is the oldest standing structure in the county. It was used as a Civil War hospital for Union troops who were garrisoned above the city in Fort Wayne, which was demolished after the war. The Old Courthouse Museum in downtown Waynesville is near the Old Stagecoach Stop. Three bridges cross the Big Piney River at Devil's Elbow -- the modern Interstate 44 bridge, the later U.S. Route 66 alignment on Highway Z that was made possible by the Hooker Cut through a steep hillside, and the original U.S. Route 66 alignment on Teardrop Road that includes a historic bridge that's in the process of renovation. The Elbow Inn is a biker bar that's a frequent stop the original U.S. Route 66 alignment.

[edit] Media

Fort Leonard Wood is in Pulaski County and a high percentage of military personnel live off post in surrounding communities, especially St. Robert and Waynesville but also the farther-out cities of Richland, Crocker, and Dixon, and the unincorporated communities of Laquey, Swedeborg and Devil's Elbow, all of which have a lower housing cost than nearer housing in St. Robert and Waynesville. Military personnel assigned to training areas on the south end of the post sometimes choose to live in the unincorporated areas of Big Piney and Palace in Pulaski County, or the northern Texas County communities of Plato and Roby.

The area has one daily and four weekly print newspapers, as well as an online internet daily newspaper. The county also has two internet discussion sites, the Pulaski County Web and Pulaski County Insider.

The content of the weekly Fort Leonard Wood Guidon[1] is produced under the auspices of Army Public Affairs at Fort Leonard Wood but printed under contract by the Springfield News-Leader,[2] a Gannett-owned[3] newspaper which produces and sells advertisements in the Fort Leonard Wood Guidon.

The Daily Guide, commonly known as the Waynesville Daily Guide[4] but based in St. Robert and serving the entire county, is owned by Gatehouse Media[5] and is the central printing plant for three other Gatehouse newspapers in nearby counties, the daily Camden Lake Sun Leader [6] and Rolla Daily News [7] as well as the weekly St. James Leader-Journal.[8]

The weekly Richland Mirror[9] and Pulaski County Democrat[10] are owned by the Lebanon Daily Record,[11] a family owned newspaper in an adjoining county. The weekly Dixon Pilot[12] is privately owned by a former Dixon resident who now lives in Rolla.

The Pulaski County Daily News[13] internet newspaper is privately owned by a St. Robert resident.

The Pulaski County Insider[14] is run by a group of St. Robert and Waynesville residents and maintained and hosted by a Potosi resident. The Pulaski County Web[15] is run and maintained by a Devil's Elbow resident and former St. Robert businessman.

[edit] School Districts

Seven main school districts are fully or partly within the borders of Pulaski County, not counting two small districts which are mostly within other counties and only have only a few dozen residents within Pulaski County. All seven school districts have a high percentage of Fort Leonard Wood military dependents, and over two-thirds of Waynesville students fall into that category.

The cities of Waynesville and St. Robert and the Fort Leonard Wood army installation, along with their surrounding rural areas running east to Devil's Elbow, are served by the Waynesville R-VI School District [16] which is by far the largest in the county.

The cites of Richland, Crocker, and Dixon, along with their surrounding rural areas, are served by the Richland R-IV School Disrrict,[17] the Crocker R-II School District[18] and the Dixon R-I School District.[19] The Richland and Dixon districts both extend into rural parts of adjacent counties.

The unincorporated communities of Laquey and Swedeborg are served by the Laquey R-V School District[20] and the Swedeborg R-III School District.[21] Swedeborg is the county's last remaining K-8 district and most of its high school students attend Richland High School though some attend Crocker High School or Waynesville High School; all others serve students running from kindergarten through high school.

The areas south of Fort Leonard Wood, including the unincorporated Pulaski County communities of Big Piney and Palace, is served by the Plato R-V School District,[22] which is based in the northern Texas County village of Plato but also includes parts of Pulaski, Laclede and Wright counties.