Photo By Lori Stewart | The completed barracks area of the new MI Village, today referred to as Prosser...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON MI VILLAGE AT FORT HUACHUCA
On Jun. 18, 1991, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center (USAIC) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, broke ground on a $129 million construction project to accommodate the students and personnel transferring from the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Devens (USAISD), Massachusetts. Once the last class graduated at USAISD on Sep. 9, 1994, consolidation of all MI training at Fort Huachuca was complete.
The Army’s training in communications analysis, communications security, radio intelligence, Morse and non-Morse intercept, and crypto-equipment maintenance had been conducted at Fort Devens under the direction of the Army Security Agency (ASA) since 1951. When the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) was established in 1976 to oversee all training within the U.S. Army, the ASA training center moved under the new command. TRADOC, in turn, placed the school under the command of USAIC at Fort Huachuca, which had been the home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School since 1971. Upon transfer of responsibility, the Devens school became known as USAISD. In 1982, all USAISD’s SIGINT officer training transferred to Fort Huachuca, allowing the Massachusetts school to focus solely on conducting Career Management Field (CMF) 98 MOS-qualifying enlisted courses.
In May 1988, Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci chartered the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission to identify infrastructure changes to increase efficiency in the Department of Defense. The commission’s recommendations, published in late 1988, resulted in major changes for USAISD and USAIC. Foremost, the commission announced the transfer of all USAISD’s training elements to Fort Huachuca. This realignment coincided with another recommendation: USAIC was to assume command of Fort Huachuca from the U.S. Army Information Systems Command, which had been the senior mission on post since the 1960s but which was now slated to replace USAISD at Fort Devens.
Once the BRAC recommendations had been announced, USAISD Commander Col. Robert Troth appointed Maj. James A. Gauthier as the Base Realignment Officer. Major Gauthier then stood up a BRAC Office to serve as the point of contact for all realignment actions. The primary issue was ensuring adequate applied instructional facilities, tactical training areas, and barracks spaces were available for the 3,200 permanent party personnel and students expected to make the move. In late January 1989, a team from Fort Huachuca, led by Maj. Gen. A. E. Short, USAIC deputy commanding general, visited Fort Devens to become familiar with the school’s existing facilities and requirements. Subsequently, between July and October, Gauthier’s staff attended five pre-design conferences for the Military Construction projects that would accommodate the massive population increase at Fort Huachuca.
The Jun. 18, 1991 ground-breaking heralded the first phase of construction of what was then known as MI Village. The complex included seven barracks, two dining facilities, two instruction buildings, a SIGINT/EW maintenance facility, and utilities and roads to support the complex. The buildings were to be built in a New England-style to honor the forty years of MI training at Fort Devens.
On Feb. 6-8, 1993, after nearly two years of construction, a round of building dedications was held to open the new facilities, which Maj. Gen. Paul Menoher, the commanding general of USAIC, called a “symbol of the long-cherished dream of all U.S. Army military intelligence training being consolidated at one location.” The three-day event included the opening of the new Nicholson Hall, Friedman Hall, Koch Barracks, and Yardley Dining Facility. Over the next four years, additional buildings were completed and dedicated, including the Hall Dining Facility, Kapp Barracks, Sherr Barracks, and Willoughby Barracks in 1994; Davis Hall, de Pasqua Barracks, Hitt Hall, O’Neil Hall, and Revere Barracks in 1995; and finally, Eifler Gym in 1997. On Jun. 28, 2002, the MI Village was redesignated Prosser Village, in honor of S. Sgt. Brian “Cody” Prosser, an Army intelligence analyst killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 6, 2001.
New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 06.13.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2025 16:17 |
| Story ID: | 500604 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
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