Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Charleston Post, SAMEThe Charleston Post was established in 1941. Our membership of over 200 is a balance of military and civilian members. Our 30 companies make up our robust civilian membership is representative of local, regional, and national companies. The Posts within the Carolinas Region include: Charleston, Carolina Midlands (Columbia, SC), Cape Fear (Wilmington, NC), Coastal Carolina (Camp Lejune, NC) and Bragg-Pope-Fayetteville (NC). Our military membership is derived primarily from three local sources: On October 1, 2010, Joint Base Charleston (JB CHS) began operations as a combined Air Force and Navy installation. In 2005, the Base Realignment Committee (BRAC) made recommendations that eventually required combining 26 separate military installations into 12 joint bases. In making the decision on combining the Charleston Air Force Base and Naval Weapons Station, BRAC looked at how both installations executed their separate support missions and found that both used similar or near similar processes. BRAC also looked at the proximity of the bases to each other and saw an opportunity to reduce duplication of support efforts resulting in a reduction of overall manpower and facilities requirements which would generate substantial savings. In the same recommendations in 2005, the Department of Defense BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission) determined that the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Charleston and Southern Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Charleston would be closed with their corresponding employees asked to relocate to other facilities in the USA. While the NAVFAC mission was primarily transferred to Jacksonville, FL, many of the former employees remained in the Charleston area and are still active in the Charleston Post.One of the key elements at Joint Base Charleston Weapons Station is the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR), an engineering command that works with a broad base of customers, including other government agencies, to define and develop information systems and solutions. SPAWAR is also the number one employer in the state of South Carolina for electrical engineers. Military engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers first got involved Charleston when they began the construction of Fort Moultrie and Fort Johnson in 1826, and that of Fort Sumter in 1829. Early civil projects by the Corps included erosion control at Sullivan’s Island beginning in 1829, and maintenance of a navigable channel in Charleston Harbor began in 1851. The Corps also assisted in the survey and design of the first railroad in the region in 1829. The Charleston District began in 1871 to manage Corps activities from Cape Fear, N.C. to St. Augustine, Fla. A permanent Corps office was established in Charleston in 1871. Gillmore was responsible for clearing Charleston Harbor of all of the ships sunk during the Civil War and for making the harbor more stable. His solution was a pair of jetties at the harbor's mouth, which would harness the scouring power of the ebb tide by funneling its flow. Work on the jetties began in 1882. They were completed in 1895. Other navigation projects of that period were construction of the jetties at the mouth of Winyah Bay and a number of canals to aid coastal navigation. In the 1930s, the system of protected coastal channels was linked to form the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. With the outbreak of hostilities in 1917, the district was required to assist the construction of three new training posts: Camp Sevier at Greenville, Camp Wadsworth at Spartanburg, and Camp Jackson at Columbia. In addition, the district supported construction of the Army Depot in North Charleston. As World War II neared, the Corps launched a mammoth construction program. The most ambitious segment was airfield construction to accommodate the large pilot training mission planned for South Carolina. By the war's end, more pilots were trained in South Carolina than any other state. The district built or expanded airfields at Charleston, Columbia, Anderson, Spartanburg, Sumter, Florence, Georgetown, and Charlotte. Today, nearly all of these fields are in service as public airports. Projects to shore up harbor defenses, plan for air defenses, and build training areas and ranges also went forward. To sustain this effort, the district facilities expanded across Charleston from Market to Broad Street, and the work force grew to 1,000. Since the war, the Charleston District has tailored its specific missions and has adjusted to suit changing times. It remains committed to enhancing a strong national defense and to providing the best in federal engineering for civil programs. Since 2008, the District has resumed milcon activities in addition to civil works.
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