Puerto Rico National Guard - Military Installations

Military Installations

• Camp Santiago Joint Maneuver Training Center on 12,000 acres of land located in Salinas, Puerto Rico is the island's premier National Guard training facility. Though it has no permanent residents, Camp Santiago can house thousands of troops on a temporary basis. Some old barracks are being replaced with new two-level barracks. In addition to rifle and small arm ranges, a leadership reaction course, and dining facilities and classrooms, Camp Santiago houses a Puerto Rico National Guard Museum, a theater, a Class Six Shoppette and, since 2009, a post exchange on base. A $1.7 million Urban Assault Course is to be constructed at Camp Santiago. National Guard units from other states also come to Camp Santiago for their two weeks annual training. In 1975 the facility was renamed from Camp Salinas to Camp Santiago in honor of Specialist Four Héctor Santiago-Colón, who received the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Salinas was Santiago's birth place.
• Fort Allen, located 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Juana Díaz, is the site of the Puerto Rico National Guard Language Center. Many PRNG and U.S. Army Reserve units are stationed at Fort Allen. The National Guard's Youth Challenge Program operates at Fort Allen, graduating hundreds of high school students each year who had formerly dropped out of school. The Relocatable Over the Horizon (ROTHR) receiver site has operated at Fort Allen since the 1990s; it is part of a surveillance network designed to monitor flights over an area encompassing more than 1,000,000 square miles (2,600,000 km2) in South America. The (ROTHR) radar consists of 34 antennas and support structure from 71 to 123 feet (37 m) tall. Barracks can house military personnel on a temporary basis, NGX has a post exchange on base, and an Armed Forces Reserve Center is under construction. Previously Fort Allen was used by the US Army as the Losey Army Airfield during WWII, and later used as a U.S. Navy communications center. Since 1980, Fort Allen has been under control of the Puerto Rico National Guard.
• Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina is the home of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard 156th Airlift Wing and the 198th Airlift Squadron. Muñiz ANGB has hangars, command offices, a recruiting office, classrooms, maintenance shops, a community club, a Family Readiness Center, a post barbershop, and NGX has a post exchange on base. Muñiz ANGB is also the home of the STARBASE youth program in Puerto Rico. Operation Coronet Oak shares Muñiz ANGB flight line with the 156th Airlift Wing, which also flies C-130 military transport airplanes. In 1963 this Air base was renamed Muñiz Air National Guard Base while commemorating the 20th year of its federal recognition.
• Punta Borinquen Radar Station located next to Punta Borinquen Golf Course at the former Ramey Air Force Base is home for the Puerto Rico Air National Guard 141st Air Control Squadron.
• Punta Salinas Radar Station in Toa Baja is operated by the Puerto Rico Air National Guard's 140th Air Defence Squadron. Its mission is to provide air traffic control to the Federal Aviation Administration, and provide support for military and law enforcement operations.
• Isla Grande Aviation Support Facility is located at the Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in San Juan. Its mission is to support the Puerto Rico Army National Guard aviation units.
• National Guard armories are located in Aibonito, Aguadilla, Arecibo, Arroyo, Cabo Rojo, Caguas, Cayey, Ceiba, Coamo, Guayama, Gurabo, Humacao, Juncos, Mayaguez, Peñuelas, Ponce, Sabana Grande, San German, Utuado, Vega Baja and San Juan. Some of these armories will be closed, and Puerto Rico National Guard units will move into to new Armed Forces Reserve Centers in Ceiba, Mayaguez, Fort Allen and Fort Buchanan.