Tag Archives: center of military history

Army set to Close Almost Half of its Museums

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I get it, the Army is looking to save money everywhere to do more important things like fund new weapon systems that will eventually turn into a boondogle and upgrade military housing to almost habitable levels, but this sucks.

Young Joes need to be able to go to their on-base museum and learn about their heritage and history, coming face to face with the heroes of the past.

Plus, in many cases, the base museum is the only place where new soldiers can take their visiting family members to “show” them what they do. I recently visited the Infantry Museum at Benning on a Sunday morning, and most of those touring the exhibits were young E-1/2/3s walking their parents around with pride. A sense of picking up the torch going back to 1775.

This is a mistake.

From the CMH:

In support of Army transformation and a focus on directing resources toward readiness and lethality, the Center of Military History has begun a consolidation and reduction of Army museums, a process that will continue through Fiscal Year 2029.

The Army Museum Enterprise (AME) will reduce from 41 museum activities at 29 locations to 12 field museums and four training support facilities at 12 locations.

In the current AME, a substantial maintenance backlog and insufficient staffing prevent our museums from reaching their fullest potential as educational and historical resources. These challenges also pose significant risk to our ability to care for the Army’s priceless artifact collection, which is one of the world’s largest.

The future Army Museum Enterprise is designed to best support Soldier training and public education within our available budget and professional staff. The consolidation plan ensures the widest possible access to the highest quality museums within available Army resources.

Specific closure dates and procedures have not been determined. CMH is committed to maintaining communications with affected local communities and commands, and to addressing stakeholder concerns.

As soon as a timeline of closures and consolidations of specific museums is set, we will provide the information.

Bases and facilities where the Army is proposing to keep museums open, according to a draft proposal obtained by Task & Purpose, are:

  • Fort Cavazos, Texas
  • Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
  • Fort Campbell, Kentucky
  • Fort Jackson, South Carolina
  • Fort Benning, Georgia
  • Fort Novosel, Alabama
  • Fort Sam Houston, Texas
  • Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Those set to be closed include museums on the following bases:

When it comes to captured enemy weapons, the Army never throws anything away

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I recently had the chance to tour U.S. Army’s Museum Support Center at Anniston Army Depot, the keepers of the flame for military history in the country.

The 15,200-acre installation in North Alabama was established in World War II and overhauls both small arms and vehicles for the Army. A longstanding tenant on the sprawling base, based out of Building 201, is the Museum Support Center, operated by the Center of Military History. The CMH maintains an immense collection of 650,000 historic items across 228 sites including 57 large museums that are a part of the Army Museum Enterprise. Items not yet on display, waiting for a public home, or are excess to current museum needs are stored in the “Army’s attic” in Anniston.

In secured storage at the MSC are 13,000 live weapons of all sorts, ranging from 13th Century Ottoman gear to guns captured recently in Afghanistan…and they were gracious enough to roll out the red carpet for me:

More in my column at Guns.com