Thank Your For Your Service

About 10,000 servicemen and women are under instruction at METC at any one time; approximately 47,000 of them will graduate yearly. e METC complex, which is completed, encompasses about 1.9 million square feet of facilities, including dorms, classrooms, laboratories, a physical tness center and an 80,000-square foot dining facility that is believed to be the largest in the Army’s inventory.

When one considers also that all Air Force enlisted personnel are trained at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, and when the number of instructor pilots and unmanned aircra system operators trained at nearby Randolph AFB are added to those student totals at Lackland AFB and the number of METC graduates, the result is this: Joint Base San Antonio now teaches and houses more DoD students than at any other U.S. military installation.

Also, with the inclusion of aerial operations happening at Randolph and Lackland Air Force Bases, Joint Base San Antonio controls and administers more active runways than at any other DoD base.

Additionally, Joint Base San Antonio now hosts the San Antonio Military Entrance Processing Station Headquarters, which services as the region’s processing station for all applicants preparing to join the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. All new recruits in the region must process through the San Antonio MEPS before being assigned to initial service training.

Besides hosting a number of widely diverse tenant units, Joint Base San Antonio is home to the DoD’s largest hospital, Fort Sam Houston’s Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC).

BAMC itself is an integral component of San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), a command created in 2005 when BRAC directed the realignment of the inpatient medical function of the 59th Medical Wing, located at Wilford

Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, to BAMC.

By September 2011, BAMC absorbed all inpatient services from WHMC and provides all inpatient tertiary care as well as all trauma and emergency medical care. Changes made to BAMC as a result of new construction there added almost 760,000 square feet to the existing hospital, expanding it by roughly 50 percent. A multi-story addition houses a state-of-theart Level 1 trauma center, operating rooms, clinical and administrative spaces and an extension of the hospital’s internationally-acclaimed burn center. Additionally, about 288,000 square feet of the existing BAMC facilities have undergone renovation. Renovations to Wilford Hall Medical Center converting that former hospital into an ambulatory care clinic cover almost 146,000 square feet, re-inventing it into “SAMMC-South,” the DoD’s largest ambulatory outpatient clinic.

Another primary component of BRAC concerns military medical research facilities. e 150,000 square-foot Joint Center of Excellence for Battle eld Health and Trauma research next to BAMC will bring together tri-service research teams to enhance the delivery of combat casualty care. e nearby Tri-Service Research laboratory is a 181,000 square-foot structure housing research e orts that examine the health and safety e ects of exposure to a variety of stressors in the eld.

Plus, the Intrepid National Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center is providing state-of-the-art care for servicemen and women who have experienced debilitating wounds on the battle eld. It provides military amputees with improved rehabilitation resources by using advanced prosthetics, computerized and video monitoring, bio-mechanical studies and advanced physical therapy modalities and methods. e Center, which cost about $30 million, o ers healthcare on a comprehensive approach – physical, occupational, social, mental and nutritional help. It also houses an administrative center for physician teams including orthopedic surgeons, prosthetists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, gait therapists, dieticians, social workers, technicians and researchers.

Two 21-room houses are built next to the Center to house the families of veterans undergoing rehabilitation there. Known collectively as the Fisher House, this residential facility has a day care and a recreational center for residing families. Plans for improvement there also include a children’s support space to help children of wounded warriors understand and manage challenges associated with their parent’s condition and treatment.

Additionally, a 132,000 squarefoot, state-of-the-art medical facility opened on Fort Sam Houston. e facility provides outpatient services in Family Medicine, Adolescent Medicine, Behavioral Health, Occupational erapy and Physical erapy, as well as Laboratory, Radiology and Pharmacy services.

Active-duty military personnel and their families as well as military retirees may receive healthcare services at the facility. ey will also treat additional personnel coming to Fort Sam Houston as part of other BRAC actions.

Its location is extremely convenient for active-duty military personnel and their families, and even for many military retirees who live in San Antonio. It also contains the TRICARE service center o ering assistance and information on the military bene ciary care program.

As you can see, Joint Base San Antonio serves many purposes and has been a great success. We hope you enjoy your stay.