Fort Bliss

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Fort Bliss
Part of Army Forces Command (FORSCOM)
El Paso County, Texas and Doña Ana / Otero counties, New Mexico, Southwestern United States
A 1-37AR, 1st Armored Division Abrams tank crew on Fort Bliss' Orogrande Range Camp in 2019.
Fort Bliss Location of Fort Bliss Show map of Texas Fort Bliss Fort Bliss (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates	31°48′07″N 106°25′29″W / 31.801847°N 106.424608°W / 31.801847; -106.424608
Type	Military base
Site information
Controlled by	United States (1849–1861)  Confederate States (1861–1862)  United States (1862–present)
Facilities[1]	Biggs Army Airfield McGregor Range Doña Ana Range North Training Area South Training Area
Site history
Built	1849–1893[2]
In use	1849–present[3]
Garrison information
Current commander	MG James P. Isenhower III
Past commanders	John J. Pershing
Garrison	1st Armored Division 15th Sustainment Brigade 402nd Field Artillery Brigade 5th Armored Brigade 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade 86th Expeditionary Signal Battalion Joint Task Force North German Air Force Command USA/CAN German Air Force Air Defense Center[4][5]
Occupants	DCG: Maneuver: Brigadier (UK) Richard Bell Operations: BG Michael J. Simmering Support: COL Alric L. Francis

Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km²); it is the largest installation in FORSCOM (United States Army Forces Command) and second-largest in the Army overall (the largest being the adjacent White Sands Missile Range). The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract (1,500 sq mi or 3,900 km²) of restricted airspace^[6] in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres (401,000 ha) boasts the largest maneuver area (ahead of the National Training Center, which has 642,000 acres (260,000 ha)).^[1] The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres (0.45×10^⁶ ha), ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.^[7] Fort Bliss also includes the Castner Range National Monument.