First United States Army - Post-war and Peacetime Missions

Post-war and Peacetime Missions

First Army returned to the United States in late 1945; first to Fort Jackson (South Carolina), then to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, returning to Fort Jay in the spring of 1946. Since then, during its active periods, it has controlled training formations in the United States itself. Immediately after the war, First Army was headquartered at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. Twenty years later, in 1966, First Army relocated to Fort Meade, Maryland and took over the responsibilities of Second Army, which was inactivated. In 1973, First Army's mission changed from training and preparation of active units to Army Reserve units. In a 1993 reorganization, five divisions carried out that training and support mission:

75th Division, Houston, TX

78th "Lightning" Division, Edison, NJ

85th "Custer" Division, Arlington Heights, IL

87th "Golden Acorn" Division, Birmingham, AL

91st "Wild West" Division, Dublin, CA

In 1993, Headquarters First Army relocated to Fort Gillem, near Atlanta, Georgia and became responsible for the training and mobilization of all Army Reserve and National Guard units in the United States and providing assistance to the civilian sector during national emergencies and natural disasters. In the latter role, First Army's contributions during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster was a rare bright spot in leading federal relief efforts in the aftermath of the storm. Its commander, Russel L. Honoré, a Louisiana native, became a nationally recognized figure in his direct, no-nonsense approach to disaster relief which earned First Army a Joint Meritorious Unit Award.

In the 21st Century, First Army was subjected to more changes as base closures and force structures were instituted to modernize, economize and change its mission. In 2005, a BRAC decision called for the relocation of First Army headquarters to Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois in 2011. Its former quarters at Fort Gillem was to transition to a single national location for the mobilization and demobilization of Army National Guard and Reserve units.

In a second change, as part of the 2006 Transformation of the United States Army program, First Army exchanged its civilian assistance mission for the training and support missions for military units in the western United States formerly held by US Fifth Army. Fifth Army then became U.S. Army, North with responsibilities for homeland defense and domestic emergency assistance.

First Army inactivated its training divisions, reflagging them as separate training brigades under two commands. First Army Division East, headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland has responsibilities in all states east of the Mississippi River; and First Army Division West assuming Fifth Army's role and relocating from Fort Carson to its new headquartrs at Fort Hood, Texas, oversees units in all states west of the Mississippi River.