Fort Bliss : Ask Biography

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Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. With an area of about 1700 sqmi (4403 km2), it is the Army's second-largest installation behind the adjacent White Sands Missile Range. It is FORSCOM's largest installation, and has the Army's largest Maneuver Area (992,000 maneuver acres for practicing military maneuvers) behind the National Training Center. Part of the post in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place (CDP); it had a population of 8,264 at the 2000 census. Fort Bliss also provides the largest contiguous tract (1500 sqmi (3885 km2)) of virtually unrestricted airspace in the Continental United States; the airspace is used for missile and artillery training and testing .

Fort Bliss is home to the 1st Armored Division, which returned to US soil in 2011, after 40 years in Germany. The division is supported by the 15th Sustainment Brigade. In addition to 1st AD, the installation is also home to the 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command, along with its subordinate 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade.

The headquarters for the El Paso Intelligence Center, a federal tactical operational intelligence center, is hosted at Fort Bliss, located at Biggs Army Airfield; its DoD counterpart, Joint Task Force North is also at Biggs Field. Biggs Field is designated a military power projection platform.

Fort Bliss National Cemetery is also located on the post. The fort is named for Mexican-American War soldier William Wallace Smith Bliss.