JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Joint Base Charleston is the leading economic engine in the low country - employing 21,790 military, civilian and contractor personnel, encompassing 23,777 acres covering 37 square miles, including 16 miles of shoreline, 38 miles of rail and three miles of runway. With 54 aircraft, JB CHS is the largest concentration of C-17 airlifters in the world.
Joint Base Charleston is unique to the military in the capability it provides for today's fight. To give you an idea, let me talk about a few of the 53 organizations that call our joint base home. First, if you didn't know it, we have the premier Nuclear Propulsion training site in the world, as every Navy sailor destined to work with nuclear powered engines, either surface or subsurface, begins their career here in the Low Country. Between the Training Center and the Submarine Prototype Training Unit, over 4,000 students call Charleston home.
Keeping on the theme of high tech, we also have the Space and Naval Warfare System Center Atlantic. These folks are phenomenal as they provide the Department of Defense with command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services across the world including everything from installing more than 1,000 internet cafes so our servicemen can stay in touch with families left behind, to providing mobile air traffic capabilities in the ruggeds of Afghanistan to outfitting more than 16,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles with electronics. Every MRAP, or their sportier cousin - the MATV, first arrives at SPAWAR before going into theater.
Joint Base Charleston is also a leader in logistics and transportation. The Army's Strategic Logistical Activity Charleston, or ASLAC, is responsible for loading equipment and supplies aboard DoD pre-positioning ships operating across the world. In addition, the Army is reviewing the possibility of ASLAC becoming the long term storage location for several thousand MRAPs and MATVs returning from theater next year as they are already the single point of entry of all returning MRAPs.
As for material going into the Middle East, this is where Charleston really shines as we have both the primary shipping and aerial hub for military cargo headed to Afghanistan. The 841st Transportation Battalion is the busiest military terminal battalion in the Army, having shipped 35 percent of all the material sent to either Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 and is now the lead shipping port for all military supplies supporting the Operation Enduring Freedom surge. Of course, if it you need it there overnight, we also just happen to have the leading U.S. airlift operation supporting the surge. Since April of 2009 alone, we've airlifted more than 279,000 passengers and more than 300 million pounds of cargo which is nearly 40 percent of all the personnel and material moved by air throughout the last year within the military's Air Mobility Command.
There's no question, Charleston is a leader in today's fight and we're getting even better as we take the best practices from the Air Force and the Navy to become a Joint Base. Fortunately, taking on new challenges is nothing new to our Airmen, Sailors and civilians. For instance, Staff Sgt. John Kingsley, who generally spends his time at Charleston as a noncommissioned officer in charge in our 628th Communications Squadron, is currently helping to provide security to a Provisional Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan. Not to be outdone, Master Sgt. Steve Wisecarver, another 628 CS NCOIC is also busy providing security as well as setting up communication platforms to help track up to 75 percent of border attacks between Afghanistan and Pakistan. These two Airmen represent the spirit and determination that has made our military the finest the world has ever known and they, along with our entire team of active duty and civilians, will ensure we keep Joint Base Charleston a leader within the DoD for many years to come.