Situated on 487 acres (1.97 km2) and located four miles (6 km) southwest of the center of Atlanta, Fort McPherson has history as an army post dating back to 1867.

During the Reconstruction Era, between 1867 and 1881, it was named the "McPherson Barracks", and served as a post for U.S. troops in Atlanta, garrisoning elements of the 2nd, 16th and 18th U.S. Infantry Regiments and the 5th Artillery during their mission to enforce U.S. regulations after the American Civil War.

The deploying officers and NCOs surveyed the local Civil War entrenchments parallel to the railroad along Utoy Creek to learn about trench warfare.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service Atlanta Distribution Center will cease operations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will move off the installation.

Fort Gillem became a contiguous enclave for the Georgia Army National Guard, the remainder of the 81st RRC units, the Criminal Investigation Division Forensics Laboratory and the Navy's Reserve Intelligence Area 14, which relocated from Naval Air Station Atlanta.

Headquartered at Fort McPherson, FORSCOM trains, mobilizes, deploys, sustains, transforms and reconstitutes combat-ready Army forces capable of responding rapidly to crises worldwide.

Using the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) process, FORSCOM tailors the resources and training of its units to meet the specific and ever-changing requirements of combatant commanders and, when directed, those of U.S. civil authorities.

The USARC also ensures the readiness of its force and prepares more than 2,000 Troop Program Units under its command to mobilize in support of joint war-fighting contingencies and operations other than war.

With BRAC initiatives and transformation, proposed changes will make the Army Reserve more deployable and functional in order to serve America's military needs in the 21st century.

[citation needed] Units will be functionally aligned forces that will not only benefit the Army Reserve, but the total military in terms of readiness and responsiveness to operational requirements.

Within the United States, Army Reserve Soldiers are actively involved in the homeland defense antiterrorism effort while continuing to provide support to military and federal agencies following natural and man-made disasters.

In 1998, CENTCOM assumed responsibility for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, in turn broadening USARCENT's mission in this very important region of the world.

Under the leadership of Gen. George S. Patton Jr., the 3rd Army participated in eight major operations in World War II, fighting through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria.

Following the war, Third Army supervised the relief effort to restore life support facilities in Kuwait and provided protection for Iraqi refugees in southern Iraq.

Immediately following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001, USARCENT began preparing for future operations - the United States invasion of Afghanistan.

[citation needed] First Army plans, prepares and executes the mobilization and deployment of RC units to provide combat-ready forces to war fighting combatant commanders.

This means First Army is the regional DoD planning agent for military support to civil authorities during a response to natural or manmade disasters.

The mission of USMEPCOM and the Atlanta MEPS is to process individuals for enlistment or induction into the armed services based on DoD-approved peacetime and mobilization standards.

When these young men and women complete their service obligation, they return to their local community with valuable skills, disciplined work ethics and on-the-job experience.

The Atlanta MEPS has enlistment responsibility for 95 counties in Georgia, including 316 high schools and five strategically located Military Examination Test (MET) sites.

The mission of the 3d MP Group (CID) and its four organic battalions is to provide a full range of criminal investigative support and services for commanders, installations and other areas of Army interest in the 28 states east of the Mississippi, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

[citation needed] USACIL performs forensic analysis in support of criminal investigations in the laboratory, at crime scenes or deployed into combat theaters.

These surveys were aimed at identifying and eliminating occupational health hazards within the DoD's industrial production base and proved to be of great benefit to the nation's war effort.

Professional disciplines represented include chemists, physicists, engineers, physicians, optometrists, epidemiologists, audiologists, nurses, industrial hygienists, toxicologists and entomologists, as well as sub-specialties within these professions.

The unit consists of five divisions: entomological sciences, field preventive medicine, industrial hygiene, quality management support and environmental health engineering.

At Fort Sam Houston, USACHPPM-South will continue to provide "cutting edge" public health services to all DoD entities (both active and reserve components) in the southeast region of the continental United States.

Situated on 487 acres (1.97 km2) and located four miles (6 km) southwest of the center of Atlanta, Fort McPherson is rich in military tradition as an army post dating back to 1867.

US Army Engineers built a monument to him on the site he was killed in 1888, in East Atlanta and maintained to this day by the Sons of Union Veterans of the American Civil War, SUVCW.

Completed in 1889 as the original post headquarters, this two-story structure (Building 41) contained office space for the commander, adjutant, sergeant major, clerks, library, mail and court martial room.

The home was later inhabited by the commander, Intelligence Support Element Ft. McPherson (513th MI Bde), Army Captain Steven S. Walsky and family; and appropriately, finally by Chief Warrant Officer Clyde Green, the last Vietnam War draftee to remain on active duty (retired in 2010).