Fort McCoy, Wis., was established in 1909. Here is a look back at some installation history from October 2019 and back.
75 Years Ago — Oct. 7, 1944
Lt. Col. Robert Bruce McCoy, son of the man for whom Camp McCoy was named, returned to his Sparta home in October 1944 after two years of serving in the South Pacific. McCoy left Sparta in 1940 with the Wisconsin National Guard and served with the 32nd Infantry Division in Australia and New Guinea.
30 Years Ago — Oct. 6, 1989
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), Omaha District, entered an agreement to lease with Homz Partners of Madison, Wis. Homz Partners developed 80 units of build-to-lease 801 housing for military families stationed at Fort McCoy.
The units served as single-family residences for Army families and were built on a 40-acre tract of land in Tomah, said the ACOE Omaha District Commander Col. Donald E Hazen.
The residences were leased by the federal government for a total annual rental fee of $1.06 million, Hazen said.
Rental money covered debt services, property taxes, insurance, and return on equity. The government paid the full amount of increases in property taxes and insurance premiums after the second full year of occupancy.
20 Years Ago — Oct. 17, 1999
A new training organization, the 2nd Brigade, 85th Division (Training Support), was activated Oct. 17 during a ceremony at Fort McCoy.
Capt. Jeffrey Fishack, adjutant for the 2nd, 85th, said the ceremony reflagged the former 2nd Brigade (Field Exercise), 85th Division (Exercise) and the former 12th Support Brigade. The ceremony then activated the 2nd, 85th (TS). Col. Richard P. Fink became the 2nd, 85th (TS) commander.
The 2nd, 85th (TS) coordinated the training of more than 300 reserve component units and about 43,000 Army Reserve and National Guard personnel in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. Members of the 2nd, 85th (TS) provided lane training and coordinated overall training management programs for combat-support and combat-service support units.
10 Years Ago — Oct. 9, 2009
About 3,000 Soldiers with the 33rd Brigade Combat Team were at Fort McCoy for the last days of their one-year tour of duty in 2009.
The 33rd, from the Illinois Army National Guard, demobilized at Fort McCoy with units spread out during a four-month period.
“We were made up of many different and separate groups,” Lt. Col. Brian Sheridan said, “each group with different and separate missions. Our missions were all with training and mentoring the Afghan national police and Afghan national army.”
Sheridan, the 33rd’s demobilization officer in charge, had been at McCoy since July 2009.
“Our demobilization at Fort McCoy was excellent,” Sheridan said. “We were given outstanding support from the Soldier Readiness Center, Mobilization Unit In-processing Center, Volk Field, and others to get our people home. Although we mobilized out of Fort Bragg and Fort Riley, our demob at McCoy was closer and more convenient to home. We used coach buses for the final miles.
“We are also very familiar with Fort McCoy, having spent many training periods at McCoy, and we will be at McCoy for training in June 2010,” Sheridan said. “We very much appreciated the flexibility of scheduling at McCoy as our flights changed.
“The people at McCoy cared for us, individually and as units. We weren’t just treated as numbers,” Sheridan said. “This was the largest deployment of the Illinois Army National Guard since World War II. It was the fifth deployment for many of our Soldiers.”
5 Years Ago — October 2014
The capabilities for the Fort McCoy Fire Department of the Directorate of Emergency Services grew with the addition of new equipment.
The department received a new 2014 Oshkosh Striker six-by-six truck, designated “Crash 12,” that served at the fire station at the Fort McCoy Airport.
The truck capabilities, according to Oshkosh Corp. specifications, feature state-of the-art fire suppression and advanced safety systems as well as many other innovations.
The truck allows firefighters to have up to 600 feet of 1 3/4-inch hose at their disposal during a fire response.
The hoses are accessible from either side of the vehicle.
“It’s a crash truck that will take care of all the emergencies on the runway at the airport,” said Ryan Wilke, firefighter and emergency medical technician. “It can hold up to 3,000 gallons of water, which gives us tremendous capability.”
The department’s then-current crash truck was nearly 30 years old and only had a 1,000-gallon water storage capability.
“The new Striker is like three times the truck over the old one,” Wilke said.
The fire department also received a new fire-safety trailer to use in its efforts to educate the public about fire prevention.
Fire Inspector Curt Ladwig explained what comes with the new trailer. “It’s equipped with kitchen-fire and bedroom-fire scenario areas,” Ladwig said.
“Participants who use the trailer use laser fire extinguishers to extinguish a fire on the stove, a trashcan fire along with a cabinet fire in the kitchen area. They also learn how to safely extinguish an oven fire.”
In the bedroom scenario area, Ladwig said the trailer has a burning trash can, a smoking electrical outlet, a heated door and smoke coming from under the door.
“That teaches the participants to stuff a towel or something to block the smoke from entering before they exit through the bedroom window,” he said.