Fort Leonard Wood (military base)

Fort Leonard Wood
Pulaski County, Missouri, near Waynesville, Missouri
The schools located on Fort Leonard Wood
Type	Military Base
Site information
Controlled by	United States
Website	Official Website
Site history
Built	1940
In use	1940 – present
Garrison information
Past commanders	MG Leslie C. Smith
Garrison	United States Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School United States Army Engineer School and Regiment United States Army Military Police School United States Army Transportation Corps 5th Engineer Battalion

Fort Leonard Wood is a United States Army installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Wood (former Chief of Staff) in January 1941. Originally intended to train infantry troops, in 1941 it became an engineer training post with the creation of the Engineer Replacement Training Center. During World War II Italian and German POWs were interned at the fort. In 1984, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, most of the U.S. Army Engineer School's operations were consolidated at Fort Leonard Wood. Before that, officer training was conducted at Fort Belvoir Virginia.

In 1999, again as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, Fort McClellan, Alabama was closed, and the U.S. Army Chemical Corps and Military Police Corps schools were transferred to Fort Leonard Wood, which was concurrently redesignated the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center.

In 2009, the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center was redesignated the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence (MSCoE); the "center of excellence" designation was placed on almost all U.S. Army training institutions.

The current commanding general is Major General Kent D. Savre and the command sergeant major is Command Sergeant Major Roy Ward.

Prior to the establishment of the current Fort Leonard Wood, the same name was used in 1928 to rename Camp Meade in central Maryland when it was decided that Camp Meade, originally established as a temporary WWI cantonment, would become a permanent military base. However, after a brief time the change of name was successfully challenged by US legislators from Pennsylvania where George G. Meade hero of Gettysburg was from and the name was changed to Ft. Meade. This left the name Leonard Wood unused and available for when the current base was built in 1941.