Joint Base Charleston

Joint Base Charleston  is a United States military facility  located in North Charleston, South Carolina. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force 628th Air Base Wing, Air Mobility Command (AMC)

The facility is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force Charleston Air Force Base and the United States Navy Naval Weapons Station Charleston, which were merged on 1 October 2010.

A joint civil-military airport, JB Charleston shares runways with Charleston International Airport for commercial airline aircraft operations on the south side of the airfield and general aviation aircraft operations on the east side.

Overview
Joint Base Charleston was established in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The legislation ordered the consolidation of facilities which were adjoining, but separate military installations, into a single Joint Base, one of 12 formed in the United States as a result of the law.

The Joint Base Charleston area encompasses more than 20,000 active-duty, Reserve and civilian personnel, spanning across its Air Base and Weapons Station.

Units
JB Charleston is home to the 628th Air Base Wing (628 ABW), the host wing for installation support. The 628th ABW's primary duties are to provide installation support to 53 DoD and Federal agencies, servicing a total force of over 79,000 Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, civilians, dependents and retirees on Charleston AFB and Naval Weapons Station Charleston. Additionally, they also provide expeditionary Airmen to combatant commanders in support of joint and combined operations.

The 437th Airlift Wing (437 AW) operates the C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlift aircraft in support of its mission to provide airlift of troops and passengers, military equipment, cargo, and aeromedical equipment and supplies worldwide in accordance with tasking by Air Mobility Command and unified combatant commanders.

The air base has four operational groups consisting of 21 squadrons and two wing staff directorates. It is augmented by a parallel, collocated Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) "associate" wing, the 315th Airlift Wing (315 AW), which shares the same C-17 aircraft with the 437 AW.

In addition, the USAF Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol Coastal Charleston Composite Squadron is also assigned to JB Charleston. They meet at the Aero Club near the control tower.

Joint Base Charleston
On 8 January 2010, the 628th Air Base Wing started its Initial Operating Capability (IOC). The 628th Air Base Wing's primary duties are to provide unsurpassed installation support to 53 DoD and Federal agencies, servicing a total force of over 79,000 Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, civilians, dependents and retirees on Charleston Air Force Base and Naval Weapons Station Charleston. They maintain $2B worth of physical infrastructure across 23 thousand non-contiguous acres. Additionally, they also provide mission-ready expeditionary Airmen to combatant commanders in support of joint and combined operations. The 628th Air Base Wing is set to go Fully Operationally Capable (FOC) on 1 October 2010 with an event taking place at Marrington Plantation at the Naval Weapons Station. Since the IOC phase, personnel on the Naval Weapons Station and the Air Force Base have been working vigrously to make Joint Base Charleston a success.

Current work
The Support Activity has expanded its mission and Department of Defense support role with over 40 tenant commands, and today is a training center, with the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC), Nuclear Power Training Unit, Propulsion Facility, and Border Patrol satellite academy; Naval Consolidated Brig, Charleston; Mobile Mine Assembly Unit; Explosive Ordnance Detachments; Marine Corps Reserve Center; an engineering complex, with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR, this is the largest employer in the Charleston area) and is close to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast; 269 above-ground ammunition magazines, maintenance and storage of military ordnance including mines, and serves as an Army logistics hub, the busiest continental United States surface port in the defense transportation system. In addition, NWS Charleston contains more than 1,800 on-base houses for Navy enlisted and officer dependents as well as Coast Guard dependents, and has a child care facility, elementary and middle schools. A large medical clinic near NNPTC in Goose Creek has just finished construction. An Air Force Times article dated 21 December 2009 announced the activation of the 628th Air Wing to "take over administrative duties for a number of military commands" in January 2010. The 628th "will essentially serve as the ‘landlord’ for Charleston Air Force Base, the Charleston Naval Consolidated Brig and about 50 other military commands. The unit will handle items such as building and grounds services, supply and civil engineering and public works.

Because of the construction, larger and heavier aircraft will now be cleared to land on runway 03/21, which will be key when work scheduled for Fiscal Year 2012 begins on runway 15/33, the base's main runway. The last major work done on Joint Base Charleston runways was in 1968.