Courtesy Photo | Maj. Gen. Paul Menoher and Mrs. Karen Nicholson, widow of Lt. Col. Arthur Nicholson,...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
From February 6-8, 1993, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center (USAIC) and the MI Corps celebrated the consolidation of MI training taking place at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, with that at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. For decades, the split training base highlighted an undesirable division between signals intelligence and the rest of the intelligence disciplines. The consolidation of training at Fort Huachuca solidified the unity of all Army intelligence at the “Home of Military Intelligence.”
In late December 1988, the Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRAC) recommended the consolidation of intelligence training at the U.S. Army Intelligence School Devens (USAISD) with USAIC at Fort Huachuca, bringing Army intelligence training to a single location by September 30, 1995. Before USAISD could begin its move, USAIC had to have the facilities to receive the 1,750 students, soldiers, and civilians expected to relocate from Massachusetts. In mid-1990, the Army announced more than $150 million of new construction at Fort Huachuca to accommodate the new mission requirements. The first phase of this construction began with a ground-breaking for the new MI Village (today’s Prosser Village) on June 18, 1991. When finished, the complex would include seven barracks, two dining facilities, two instruction buildings, a SIGINT/EW maintenance facility, and utilities and roads to support the complex.
As completion of the first construction phase approached, Maj. Gen. Paul E. Menoher, Jr., who had taken command of USAIC in September 1989 (at the same time becoming the second chief of the MI Corps), approved a three-day series of celebratory events dubbed “A Dream Come True.” USAIC was celebrating not only the new academic complex but also the launch of the Electronic Warfare Analyst Course, the first of forty courses to move from Devens to Huachuca. It also recognized the realization of a two decades-long desire to unite all Army intelligence in a single “Home of MI” as envisioned by Maj. Gen. Joseph McChristian, the Army G-2, in the late 1960s.
The “Dream Come True” celebration kicked off on Saturday, February 6, with an open house and guided tours of the new facilities for the public at large. Day two of the celebration began with a golf tournament followed by an open house for invited officials. The day was capped off with an evening reception in Alvarado Hall featuring a concert by Fort Huachuca’s 36th Army Band and a history presentation by James P. Finley, the USAIC command historian.
The final day of festivities, February 8, featured an eclectic mix of events. First, Col. Robert J. Covalucci and Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Robert T. Hall cased the colors of their 112th MI Brigade, inactivating the USAISD training unit. Then, General Menoher and Cmd. Sgt. Maj. James A. Johnson hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Nicholson Hall. The 76,000-square-foot instructional building was named in honor of Lt. Col. Arthur D. Nicholson, a member of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission killed on duty in East Germany in 1985. The memorialization ceremony was followed by lunch at the La Hacienda NCO Club sponsored by the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army. U.S. Senator (D-AZ) Dennis DeConcini, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, served as the guest speaker. Finally, in addition to being the first day of the EW Analysts Course, 8 February was also the first day of a three-day worldwide Military Intelligence Command Sergeants Major/Sergeants Major Conference, a forum for senior NCOs to discuss MI training, military occupational specialty issues, systems, and concepts.
The February 1993 “Dream Come True” celebration was not the end of USAIC’s expansion to support new mission requirements from the 1988 BRAC decision. Additional contracts were awarded for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle training facility, a self-contained NCO Academy, athletic fields, and soldier support facilities that would be built within the next few years.
| Date Taken: | 02.06.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2023 10:28 |
| Story ID: | 437898 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 134 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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