Fort Devens

Fort Devens is a reservist United States military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was named after jurist and Civil War general Charles Devens. The nearby Devens Reserve Forces Training Area is located in Lancaster. Although closed in 1996, the fort was reopened the next day as the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area. In 2007, the area was renamed Devens, Massachusetts.

The fort has a population of 306 enlisted personnel, 2,151 reservists, 348 civilians, and 1,399 family members. It also maintains 25 ranges, 21 training areas, and 15 maneuver areas on nearly 5000 acre of land. Furthermore, it is also home to the United States Army Base Camp Systems Integration Laboratory as well as the United States Army System Integration Laboratory.

Part of the former area of the military base is now home to Federal Medical Center, Devens, a federal prison for male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care.

Early history
The area known as Devens today was originally called Camp Devens, established on September 5, 1917 as a temporary cantonment for training soldiers during World War I. It was a reception center for war selectees and became a demobilization center after the war. Two divisions (the 76th and the 12th) were activated and trained at Devens during the war. Robert Goddard briefly used the post for his rocket operations in 1929. The camp became a permanent installation in 1931 and was named Fort Devens the following year. A few years later, Fort Devens Army Airfield was established.

In 1940, at the onset of World War II, Fort Devens was designated a reception center for all men in New England who would serve one year as draftees. A massive $25 million building project was begun, including more than 1200 wooden buildings and an airfield. The 1st, 32nd, and 45th Divisions trained at Devens during the war. Devens also housed a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian prisoners from 1944 to 1946. It was designated as early as 1942 for detaining "enemy aliens" of Italian, German and Japanese birth.

It was the home of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), less 1st Battalion (based in Germany), from 1968 until the Group's move to Fort Carson, Colorado in 1995.

Closure
The U.S. Army post which resided at Fort Devens was officially closed in 1996 after 79 years of service. The process for land distribution for all parcels on the former Fort Devens allowed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Shriver Job Corps, Massachusetts National Guard, Massachusetts Veterans and MassDevelopment to acquire the land. The bulk of the land was purchased by MassDevelopment for $17 million. MassDevelopment is a quasi-public finance and development authority that has been given the task of turning Devens into a residential and business community. Since the closing of the military base, many of the existing buildings have been renovated or reconstructed; housing developments now exist, along with a growing business park, a new hotel, restaurants, several public and private schools, a disc golf course, and a golf course. Veterans of the Army Security Agency have also expressed interest in building a museum there as Fort Devens was their principal training facility for nearly twenty-five years.

Today
Although no longer an active Army military installation, Devens is now an Army Reserve installation under the command of the United States Army Reserve Command (USARC), with a significant Marine Corps Reserve presence. In 2007 the headquarters of the 94th Regional Readiness Command, which was responsible for the command and control of Army Reserve units throughout New England, as well as providing Army Reserve support for Federal Emergency Management Agency operations in the New England region, was disbanded under the consolidation of forces and buildings within the area became under the control of the 99th Regional Support Command, which is located at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and whose Commanding General serves as the Senior Commander for Ft. Devens. The units with the original 94th Regional Readiness Command were realigned with similar commands along the East Coast. The base stills remained an active training site for Reserve and National Guard Forces as well as regional law enforcement agencies.

The Army announced in 2008 that it would build a new training center in the area. This was dedicated in 2011 as the Connolly Armed Forces Reserve Center. The three buildings total 280,000 square feet and are on 57 acres. It also supports 650 Army Reserve and Army National Guard Soldiers and Marines and includes space to store nearly 800 military vehicles. The total cost was $100 million.

In January 2011 a group of Devens residents filed a citizens' petition for Devens to become a legally incorporated town. Efforts to make Devens the state's 352nd town failed on the local level in 2006, and these residents say a legislative solution could be their final option.

Units
The following military units are based at this location:
 * 3411st Military Intelligence Detachment
 * 3417th Military Intelligence Detachment
 * 3437th Military Intelligence Detachment
 * 366th Military Police Detachment (CID)
 * Headquarters Company, 25th Marine Regiment
 * Headquarters and Service Company & Weapons Company 1st Battalion, 25th Marines
 * 3rd Battalion (Logistical Support Battalion), 313th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade, FIRST ARMY EAST
 * 2nd Battalion (Training Support Battalion), 310th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade, FIRST ARMY EAST
 * Detachment 1 J2/JT, United States Central Command, Army Reserve Element (ARE)
 * 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
 * 77th Sustainment Brigade
 * 804th Medical Brigade