Welcome to our Army community in Atlanta. Both Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem are small in area, but they are important to our country's defense because of the many headquarters and military activities located here.

Fort McPherson, steeped in tradition and proud of its appearance and history, is a blend of the old and new. It is home of the headquarters for the Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; U.S. Army Forces Command; U.S. Army Reserve Command; U.S. Army Central and other important activities.

Fort McPherson's nearest Army neighbor and sub-installation is Fort Gillem, located in Forest Park. Fort Gillem is an essential industrial, logistical support base, housing numerous Army, DoD and other government agencies. Those agencies include First Army, the U.S. Army and Air Force Exchange Distribution Region, the Military Entrance Processing Station and the U.S. Army Second Recruiting Brigade. Fort Gillem also hosts the only crime lab in the U.S. Army.

Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem share common services and morale support activities. This guidebook will provide you with a better idea of the services available, and the telephone directory will help you with your day-to-day telephone calls and coordination.

Atlanta is a thriving metropolis with a population of more than 5 million people. The city offers traditional southern hospitality, a favorable climate, excellent transportation, cultural activities, educational facilities, entertainment and professional athletic events.

Whether you have already arrived, have recently received orders to report here or are visiting, the information in this publication is designed to help you get settled and learn about our on-post services and off-post opportunities.

Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem serve and support a number of "internal" audiences: Active duty and reserve component servicemembers, DoD civilian employees, military retirees from all services and family members of each of these groups. Additionally, both installations serve, support and grow with "external" audiences: Main Street USA communities outside the boundaries of these posts. The civilian communities are partners with the Army in Atlanta, working, playing and striving together to form strong bonds for growth today and tomorrow. In its January 2008 list, the Atlanta Business Chronicle named the U.S. Army Garrison, located at Fort McPherson, Atlanta's eighth largest employer. Fort Gillem is Clayton County's third largest employer, according to a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce survey.

In addition to the servicemembers who are newly assigned to Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem, thousands of local, state and international guests take tours of or book events at Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem each year.

In 2007, there were 2,453 active duty Soldiers and 3,784 civilian employees at both posts, with a total active duty and civilian employee payroll of $529,874,972.

With only 102 family quarters and 272 single Soldier billets at Fort McPherson and 10 family quarters at Fort Gillem, active duty military and DA civilian employees live predominantly in surrounding Clayton, Fayette, Gwinnett, Henry and DeKalb counties.

An important audience is the 98,700-plus Fort McPherson-supported retirees of all services and their family members in 66 Georgia counties. They live predominantly in Clayton, Cobb, Atlanta city, Fulton, DeKalb, Fayette and Gwinnett counties, but also throughout Georgia and in Tennessee and Alabama.

The mission of the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort McPherson, Fort Gillem and Lake Allatoona is to support organizational, Soldier, civilian and family readiness while implementing Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 requirements and mitigating impacts on the installation and local communities.

The U.S. Army Garrison's vision is to be an installation that provides continued quality support and service to our military family through transformational leadership, management, innovation and technology during the BRAC transition process.

As a result of the 2005 BRAC commission recommendation, Fort McPherson is scheduled to close and Fort Gillem is scheduled to be reduced to a military enclave as of Sept. 15, 2011.

The following units are scheduled to relocate from Fort McPherson: Headquarters, U.S. Army Forces Command, and Headquarters, U.S. Army Reserve Command, will relocate to Fort Bragg, N.C.; Headquarters, U.S. Army Central, will move to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.; the Installation Management Command, Southeast Region, and the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, Southeastern Region, headquarters will relocate to Fort Eustis, Va.; and the Army Contracting Agency, Southern Region Office, will move to Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

The McPherson Planning Local Redevelopment Authority (MPLRA) is the communitybased entity authorized by the secretary of defense to develop the vision and plan for what will become of Fort McPherson after the installation closes. The MPLRA is a multijurisdictional body representing the surrounding communities impacted by the installation closure. The comprehensive reuse plan that the MPLRA executive board approved on Sept. 11, 2007, includes the following elements:
• An employment district approximately 115 acres in size that is envisioned as a knowledge- based biomedical research park. This research park would be anchored by state investment and contain Georgia University system components. It is ultimately planned to include approximately 2.4 million square feet of office and lab space and more than 1,900 units of high-density residential space. The research park will be developed by a task force that includes the University System Board of Regents, local governmental entities and private partners.

• A mixed-use, high-density retail area about 35 acres in size. This high-density area is seen as a "Main Street" development with a mid-rise residential area, a hotel, public plazas and street-level retail, restaurants, offices and grocery stores.

• A historic district covering approximately 40 acres. Most of the buildings in this area are already on the National Register of Historic Places. This district centers on the existing parade ground and is expected to be developed for mixed use, but with a historical cultural theme. Within the historic district, Staff Row would be preserved and used for single family resi dential or other complementary uses.

• Other areas will be home for up to 4,600 units of residential housing. Overall residential use will be a balanced mix of market rate, high-end housing, affordable housing and housing for the formerly homeless or families at risk of homelessness.

• Approximately 150 acres would be set aside for green space. This would connect to the historic area to create a public-oriented Linear Park centerpiece that wraps around the entire property from the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station on the north to the MARTA station on the south. Together with the residential districts, this green space will replace the area currently dominated by the golf course. The linear park will also include a space of approximately 30 acres to be used for special events and festivals.