Spring Training Trip - Day 17

Just when you think you have seen any kind of weather the Southwest has to offer, you see something new.  We departed Fort Stockton, TX about 7:45 am under clear skies with the sun in our eyes.  About 50 miles east, the desert prairie gave way to the start of rolling hills and valleys and for our special driving enjoyment: fog!  The fog wasn’t zero-zero visibility but it was low-hanging and certainly thick enough to reduce driving speeds (at least for us).  It had a few breaks here and there and gradually lifted somewhat to just overcast skies.  The skies finally cleared about 100 miles west of San Antonio and we arrived at the Fort Sam Houston RV Park around 1:30 pm under sunny skies and 72 degrees.

Ft Sam Houston is one of the U.S. Army’s oldest installations and is now part of Joint Base San Antonio, which has consolidated the management of Air Force and Army facilities in the San Antonio area.   Fort Sam Houston was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1975. The post boasts the largest collection of historic structures -- more than 900 buildings, preserved in the different sections of the post and representing different eras of construction throughout its long history.

Fort Sam Houston dates from 1845 when the Post at San Antonio was established in the Alamo City. The Army established a garrison and regional headquarters in rented buildings and a Quartermaster supply depot in the Alamo. After the Civil War, the Army began to move out of the city onto land donated by the City of San Antonio. Beginning in 1876, post construction began to expand and continued into the 1930’s culminating with construction of the New Post facilities.  The original buildings and the New Post of the 1930’s constitute the largest collection of historic buildings in the Department of Defense and form the Fort Sam Houston National Historic Landmark.

Today, Ft. Sam Houston is home to the Brooke Army Medical Center.  Here is an extract from their web site that describes their history and what they presently do:

“Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio is part of the United States Army Medical Command. It is a University of Texas Health Science Center and USUHS teaching hospital and contains the Army Burn Center. BAMC has a history which dates back to 1879 when the first Post Hospital opened as a small medical dispensary located in a single story wooden building. During the early years the Post hospital was in temporary structures, and it was not until 1886 that the first permanent hospital was built. In 1907 an 84-bed Station hospital was constructed on the west side of the post.

In 1929, Brigadier General Roger Brooke assumed command of the Station Hospital, a position he held until 1933. Brooke is credited with instituting the first routine chest X-ray in military medicine. In July 1936, the cornerstone was laid for the construction of a replacement Station Hospital. By November 1937, the new 418-bed hospital was operational, having cost $3 million dollars.

 The new hospital was the first in a series of moves which changed Fort Sam Houston from an Infantry to a medical Post.

In 1941, BAMC prepared for an overwhelming flow of casualties from World War II battlefields by converting a 220-person enlisted barracks into additional patient wards. This facility provided care to wounded soldiers and would later become BAMC Headquarters. In 1942, the Station Hospital was renamed Brooke General Hospital in Brooke's honor. In 1944, BAMC converted a Cavalry Battalion barracks into a convalescent unit to accommodate the flow of casualties from the war. This building later became Beach Pavilion. Beach housed a substantial portion of BAMC assets to include patient wards and specialty clinics.

In 1946, Fort Sam Houston was chosen as the new site for the U.S. Army Medical Field Service School. The decision to centralize the Army's medical research and training at one location resulted in the re-naming of Brooke General Hospital to Brooke Army Medical Center. In September 1987, the official groundbreaking took place for the construction of a new hospital.

On July 18, 1995, ownership of the replacement hospital was given to the BAMC Commander by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the key turnover ceremony. On March 14, 1996, the new facility was officially dedicated and on April 13, BAMC opened for business with the transfer of inpatients from the "old" BAMC to the “new” BAMC.

  The hospital today is a 450-bed TJC-accredited facility, expandable to 653 beds in the event of a disaster. Services include general medical and surgical care, adult and pediatric primary care clinics, 24-hour Emergency department, specialty clinics, clinical services, wellness and prevention services, veterinary care, and environmental health services.

BAMC is a Level I trauma center, the only one in the MEDCOM, and is part of the Southern Regional Medical Command (SRMC).”

The RV Park is quite nice and a bargain at $17 per night for a pull-through site with full hook-ups.  

After arrival we rested a bit, had a quiet dinner in the RV and are planning to go to bed early to rest for our 400 mile trip to Lafayette, LA tomorrow.