Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center conducted a civic leader engagement event May 7, 2026, to educate community leaders about the installation, but more importantly, to let them peek behind-the-scenes to see what it takes to send steel rain down range.
Roughly 15 civic leaders mingled with Guardsmen from the Arkansas National Guard’s 142nd Field Artillery Brigade during the brigade’s annual training and live-fire exercises as Guardsmen demonstrated the capabilities of the M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System and the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer.
“Watching the Guardsmen in action doing this most serious work in such a precise, well-coordinated, and safe manner was awe-inspiring,” said Jason Turner, vice president, talent and growth initiatives for ArcBest, a freight and logistics solutions provider. “Of course, the shells and rockets added to the experience, but seeing the scale of teamwork involved is what really touched me the most. Seeing that teamwork in action is exactly why we proudly hire so many military members. They make great teammates when they change into their civilian uniforms, and they know how to handle pressure.”
A highlight, during the two-hour show-and-tell session was the opportunity to ask questions about the weapons systems, and learning how Guardsmen work as a team to put projectiles on target with precision.
“I wish every American got to see what we saw [May 7, 2026],” said Joshua Mickle, president, Mickle Griffin Engineers and Surveyors. “There is no better way to understand the quiet professionalism our armed services bring to their work every day while the rest of us carry on our everyday lives.”
Fort Chaffee is one of only nine installations designated as Regional Collective Training Capability site, and during FY23 was one of five National Guard installations identified as a Level 1 Garrison Training Center and a Contingency Mobilization Force Generation Installation. The installation routinely hosts more than 200,000 man days of training annually.
“Most people don’t recognize the vast number of services who train at Fort Chaffee,” said Col. Kevin Cox, 142nd Field Artillery Brigade commander, and Fort Chaffee training site manager. “They mostly just recognize the sounds of freedom coming from within Fort Chaffee’s boundary. After a closeup look at the MLRS and Paladin conducting live fires, I have no doubt the local leaders have a newfound respect for what our citizen-Soldiers do on Fort Chaffee.”
In addition to Department of Defense military units using the installation, other customers include the Department of Energy, federal, state, and local law enforcement trainees.
FCJMTC offers space to train on small arms, crew-served weapons, larger artillery systems and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, has rail-head capacity, a drop zone, two landing zones, and lodging for more than 5,000 troops at one time, including office space, a conference center, and a 550-seat theater. FCJMTC is also a managing authority for restricting airspace over the installation in support of fixed wing, rotary wing, unmanned aerial systems, and indirect firing land-based systems.
Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center is the state’s largest military installation covering 65,000 acres in the Arkansas River Valley. Military units from around the country complete routine training at the installation, to include maneuver training, live-fire exercises, river crossing operations, urban combat training, command post exercises, and battlefield simulations. It was established as Camp Chaffee in 1941, an active-duty, 76,000-acre Army installation to train Soldiers for combat in World War II and prepare units for deployment. It was renamed Fort Chaffee in 1956.
“It’s a vital aspect of our heritage, local economy and culture” Turner said. “Having this amazing piece of training infrastructure is a differentiator for our area, and I hope we see it full of training military members for decades to come.”
Fort Chaffee also affords restricted air space to nearby Ebbing Air National Guard Base for Foreign Military Sales F-35 pilots to strafe Razorback Range located on Fort Chaffee. The range is a 1,000-acre tract that features more than 60 targets for air-to-ground employment of various types of munitions.
The 142nd Field Artillery Brigade is comprised of more than 1,300 Soldiers who primarily reside in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley, with armories in Fayetteville, Siloam Springs, Bentonville, Barling, Ozark, and Lincoln.The 142nd is routinely called upon to respond to community needs, such as winter weather response missions, tornadoes, and floods. Currently, the brigade has Soldiers deployed in support of Operations Spartan Shield and Inherent Resolve in the Southwest Asia, as well as in support Operation Safe and Beautiful in Washington, D.C.
| Date Taken: |
05.11.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
05.11.2026 13:59 |
| Story ID: |
564935 |
| Location: |
FORT CHAFFEE, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: |
60 |
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0 |
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This work, Civic leaders obtain behind-the-scenes look at Fort Chaffee live-fire exercise, by John Oldham, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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