Atlanta Braves Invade Ft. Bragg (Part 1): If you Build it, We Will Salute

Part 1 of a series of Posts this week on the Ft. Bragg Game – the first time a major league baseball game has been held at a military facility

Ft. Bragg is the largest military installation in the world, housing close to 55,000 active duty servicemen and women.  It sits on 251 square miles of land that encompasses part of four North Carolina counties northwest of Fayetteville in the southeastern quadrant of the state.

When Ft. Bragg was commissioned – interestingly enough named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg – Virginia-born Woodrow Wilson was President of the United States.

Ft. Bragg is home to numerous Air Force and Army commands, including:

• XVIII Airborne Corps (Army)
• Special Operations Command (Special Ops and Rangers; Army)
• US Army Forces Command
• US Army Reserve
• Womack Army Medical Center
• Air Force Combat Control School

When you add up the uniformed service members, the reservists, the support personnel, their families, and all others directly connected to the base (many of whom live in the surrounding communities), you get around 250,000 people.

This all comes together to be the logical choice for MLB and the Department of Defense to come together for an unprecedented celebration of America’s Finest.

Reminders

This place is a big deal… and obviously has a lot going on every day in the directly service of our country.

How much so?  Here’s one small example:  during Memorial Day weekend, the 82nd Airborne Division held ceremonies to dedicate a new monument on the base to remember the fallen among their members… and this list only involved those lost in training exercises… not even counting those lost in actual combat operations.

We tend to go about our daily lives without direct knowledge of the thankless effort these men and women put in to insure that no hostile force contemplate action against the United States without pausing to consider the consequences.

We live in the suburbs.  They live on base – essentially in a separated community.  It’s a necessary part of How They Do What They Do, but it also means that they are unfortunately often out of sight and therefore out of mind.

I happen to live near a different Army installation – Redstone Arsenal, located in Huntsville, Alabama.  I do get those reminders at least every week as the city is dotted with uniformed personnel.  It’s easy to hold open a door or to thank these soldiers for what they do.  It’s not much – nor nearly enough – but it’s something.

So how does an entire country or sporting industry express appreciation for that work?  How can these separated communities be brought together?

Next: The Genesis of an Idea