1980s
With the end of the Vietnam War, Fort Polk experienced a transition from an installation focused on basic and advanced individual training to that of the home of the reactivated 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Activated in September, 1975, the division called Fort Polk home until it was inactivated in November, 1992. The date of this inactivation, November 24, 1992, was exactly 75 years from the date of the original activation of the division on November 24, 1917. The division was organized with two active duty brigades and a brigade from the Louisiana National Guard. While at Fort Polk, the 5th Infantry Division participated in the NATO Reforger 84 Exercise in Europe and the 1989 Invasion of Panama, known as Operation Just Cause. During the stay of the 5th infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Polk experienced a major building program. The post saw the construction of new barracks, motor pools, 1000 family housing units, chapels, dental clinics and the Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital. Also built during this time was a modern Post Exchange commissary, warehouses, classrooms, athletic complexes and improved gunnery ranges.