Fort Campbell, Kentucky

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Fort Campbell is a large post of the United States Army located approximately ten miles northwest of downtown Clarksville, Tennessee and ten miles south of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The site was selected on July 16, 1941, and is named in honor of Brigadier General William Bowen Campbell. The site was named Camp Campbell until April of 1950, when it became a permanent installation and was redesignated Fort Campbell. It is the home of several units of the United States Army, most notably the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). It is officially styled as "Fort Campbell, Kentucky", because the post headquarters, the vast majority of the base housing, and its main post office are in Kentucky; however, the majority of the reservation is actually in Tennessee. Fort Campbell is the single largest factor in the Clarksville area's economy.

Fort Campbell was formed by land ceeded to the federal government from four counties, two in Tennessee (Montgomery and Stewart Counties) and two in Kentucky (Christian, and Trigg Counties). The land was fairly equally distributed initially between Kentucky and Tennessee, but a long-standing boundary dispute between the two states was settled, and the Tennessee boundary moved about two miles to the north in the 1960s. Prior to the settlement, the Kentucky boundary was all land to the north of Tiny Town Road in what is now Tennessee. Now the south end of the Kentucky border is Stateline Road which is about two miles further north.

On October 13th 2005, Fort Campbell made international headlines when Pvt. Nicholas Mikel opened fire on fellow soldiers.

Changes to the 101st Airborne are intended to make the Army more capable to deal with today's threats. The post is expecting another 2,000 troops, with the addition of another brigade, bringing the total active-duty population of Fort Campbell to around 28,000.

The commanding general of both Fort Campbell and 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is currently Major General Thomas R. Turner II. The post's current garrision commander is Colonel Larry Ruggley.

Fort Campbell, Kentucky

See also