Col John Perkins is the Training Center Garrison Commander for Camp Dodge. Perkins told the group Camp Dodge is one of the major training centers in the United States ranking 3rd to 6th as the most used center in the country. The next closest facility is 3-400 miles away.
In 2018, 449,930 men and woman trained through Camp Dodge. The Colonel expects more than a half-million men and women to use the facility this year.
Perkins shared some historical factors about camp dodge including that fact it was founded in 1909 but training was going on as early as 1907. The Hyperion Golf Course was in place before Camp Dodge. The oldest building on site is the “white” house built in 1873. The house is going through renovation.
The camp was much larger during World War II but shrank over the decades. In the 90’s the government started buying up land to get to the size today.
There are 1,184 job holders at Camp Dodge equaling 77.86 million dollars in income. The base has a 203.9-million-dollar local impact bringing in 139.7 million dollars in value-add regional economic impact.
The base challenges ahead include growth, budget, preservation of historic buildings, infrastructure, infill, internal road network and the attitude that it has always been done that way.
The future for Camp Dodge includes expansion through acquisition of land and more technology. Col Perkins talked about a future with more and more virtual reality training includes synthetic and augmented reality training where troops wear googles in the field that present threats through digital technology.