Naval Support Activity Mid-South

Naval Support Activity Mid-South (NSA Mid-South, NAVSUPPACT Mid-South, NSAMS), in Millington, Tennessee, is a base of the United States Navy. A part of the Navy Region Midwest and the Navy Installations Command, NSA Mid-South serves as the Navy’s Human Resources Center of Excellence. Headquartered onboard NSA Mid-South are Navy Personnel Command, Navy Recruiting Command, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center. More than 7,500 military, civilian, and contract personnel are assigned/work on base.

Initially established as Park Field, it was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.

Overview
The Naval Support Activity operates and functions with an allowance of approximately 7,500 enlisted and officer personnel, civilians, and full-time contract personnel, who provide all essential logistic and operational support to the commands and activities on board.

As the base has evolved and changed, so has its impact on the area. It plays an important part in the community and is one of the largest single employers in the state of Tennessee.

Major commands aboard NSA Mid-South
Of the more than 30 tenant commands that are located aboard Naval Support Activity Mid-South, these are some of the major commands:
 * Navy Personnel Command
 * Navy Recruiting Command
 * Navy Manpower Analysis Center
 * Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology
 * U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center

Community involvement
Throughout the year, NSA Mid-South partners with the Millington and Memphis communities to put on several projects:
 * Flag City Freedom Celebration - the annual Fourth of July fireworks display, seeing more than 40,000 visitors to NSA Mid-South's Navy Lake recreational facility.
 * National Night Out - a community-police awareness-raising event held the first Tuesday of August. NSA Mid-South's NNO event is one of the largest nationwide.
 * Leadership Millington - a leadership program sponsored by the Millington Chamber of Commerce, which includes a day touring NSA Mid-South.

Navy Ten Nautical Miler
Beginning in 2010, Naval Support Activity Mid-South is sponsoring the Navy Ten Nautical Miler, the first and only race measured in nautical miles instead of statute miles. The world-class foot race, intended to take the place of the Navy’s previous premiere race, the Blue Angels Marathon, the race attracts runners from all over the world.

History
The training base was named after 1st Lieutenant Joseph D. Park, who was killed on 9 May 1913 when a military biplane, which he was flying plunged its nose into a gulley, turned a somersault and crashed against a tree, at Olive, California, thirty-nine miles southeast of Los Angeles. The aviator fell only fifteen feet, but the radiator crushed his head, and then fell upon his body.

World War I
This site was originally established by the Army Signal Corps in May, 1917 after the United States entered World War I. The Department of War sent a cadre of officers to the Memphis area to survey sites for an aviation school. The group decided on a location in the Millington area, about 16 miles northeast of Memphis. An agreement to lease the land for the Army was concluded, and the construction of some 50 buildings began.

Park Field covered of over 700 acres and could accommodate up to 1,000 personnel. Dozens of wooden buildings served as headquarters, maintenance, and officers’ quarters. Enlisted men had to bivouac in tents. The first unit stationed there was the 160th Aero Squadron, which was transferred from Kelly Field, Texas in November, 1917. However, a few U.S. Army Air Service aircraft arrived with the 160th, Most of the Curtiss JN-4 Jennys to be used for flight training were shipped in wooden crates by railcar.

Park Field served as a base for flight training for the United States Army Air Service. In 1917, flight training occurred in two phases: primary and advanced. Primary training took eight weeks and consisted of pilots learning basic flight skills under dual and solo instruction with a student capacity of 300. After completion of their primary training, flight cadets were then transferred to another base for advanced training.

Training units assigned to Park Field were:


 * Post Headquarters, Park Field, December 1917-July 1919
 * 65th Aero Squadron (II), April 1918 Transferred from Kelly Field, Texas)
 * Re-designated as Squadron "A", July-December 1918


 * 87th Aero Squadron, December 1917 (Transferred from Selfridge Field, Michigan)
 * Re-designated as Squadron "B",  July-December 1918


 * 160th Aero Squadron, December 1917 (Transferred from Kelly Field, Texas)
 * Re-designated as Squadron "C", July-December 1918


 * 214th Aero Squadron, December 1917
 * Re-designated as Squadron "D", July-December 1918


 * Squadron "E", August-December 1918
 * Flying School Detachment (Consolidation of Squadrons A-E, December 1918-July 1919

By February 1918, flight operations were in full swing, but with the sudden end of World War I in November 1918, the future operational status of Park Field was unknown. Cadets in flight training on 11 November 1918 were allowed to complete their training, however no new cadets were assigned to the base. Also the separate training squadrons were consolidated into a single Flying School detachment in December, as many of the personnel assigned were being demobilized. Finally, flight training activities ceased in July, 1919.

Inter-war years
In March 1920 the War department officially purchased Park Field, and a small caretaker unit was assigned to the facility for administrative reasons. At that time the airfield began pioneering airmail routes throughout Tennessee and the surrounding states. However, the airfield continued to decline until it was little more than a storage area for aircraft and parts. By 1921, the decision had been made to phase down all activities at the base in accordance with sharply reduced military budgets. and the War Department had ordered the small caretaker force at Park Field to dismantle all remaining structures and to sell them as surplus. The field was closed and abandoned in January, 1922.

Ironically, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 breathed new life into Park Field. During the 1930s the field served as a transient camp for unemployed workers. In 1937 the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration) took over the land and developed model farms used to demonstrate what could be achieved with correctly managed land. Park Field remained under this agency's jurisdiction until the outbreak of World War II.

World War II
Just as the onset of World War I had given Park Field its birth in 1917, the declaration of war on December 8, 1941, had similar results, heralding the arrival of naval aviation to the Memphis area. In February 1942, the Navy Shore Station Development Board recommended approval of a reserve aviation base on the former site of Park Field. On September 15, 1942, the Naval Reserve Aviation Base was officially commissioned on the south side of the station.

Cold War
On January 1, 1943, the Naval Reserve Aviation Base was renamed Naval Air Station Memphis. However, in April 1949, the base's functions completely changed, and a new Naval Air Station was established, different in both scope and function.

The new NAS assumed logistic support for all the commands at Navy Memphis, except the Naval Hospital. The boundaries included all Navy property on both sides of the Millington-Arlington Road (Navy Road). NAS Memphis continued its support and logistics role for some 50 years.

Modern era
The 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission directed the realignment of Naval Air Station Memphis. NAS Memphis was redesignated Naval Support Activity Memphis September 30, 1995. The name was changed to Naval Support Activity Mid-South October 1, 1998, to more closely identify the base's mission requirements and to reflect the Navy's approach to regionalization.

Guardsmen Shooting on 24. October 2013
On 24. October 2013 a gunman opened fire and injured two soldiers. The suspect after the shooting taken into the custody. The two injured soldiers have no life-threatening injuries.