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Camp Bullis: Meet Your Neighbor
By Scott Sparks

What do the communities of Stone Oak, The Dominion, and Fair Oaks Ranch have in common? They all boast some of the most desirable neighborhoods northwest of downtown San Antonio and each experienced remarkable growth over the last decade. What else? They all share a border with Camp Bullis. Yet it’s a safe bet that only a minority of residents in these communities knows much about Camp Bullis or about its activities beyond the fences and walls of trees.

For those of you who find Camp Bullis to be a mysterious presence in your community, let’s introduce you to your neighbor so you might appreciate its mission and understand what they basically do there every day in preparation to defend our country.

As a sub-installation of Fort Sam Houston, Camp Bullis provides the ranges, training lands, and other training facilities and services that Fort Sam Houston cannot provide. Fort Sam Houston is in a highly urbanized part of San Antonio which severely limits its ability to conduct onsite field training, especially at night.

In the Texas Hill Country about 20 miles away, Camp Bullis provides about 28,000 acres of invaluable field training and maneuver areas for Fort Sam Houston as well as multi-service medical training. With about 800 employees, Camp Bullis’ training complex has an airfield, four drop zones, and maneuvering areas that provide all branches of the military with a realistic training environment for almost any type of field training.

Paul Dvorak, the Site Manager at Camp Bullis, reports that approximately 180,000 personnel train there each year. He says “The majority of the training focuses on individual qualification skills for Army and Air Force trainees during their initial training. However, Camp Bullis also supports a variety of units that are either preparing to deploy or sustaining their unit skill set. These units vary from Infantry to Special Forces, to Transportation, to Military Intelligence, and others.” With the emphasis on training, Camp Bullis has a fitting motto: “Readiness Starts Here!”

Named for Brig. Gen. John Lapham Bullis, a decorated lieutenant during the Indian Wars, Camp Bullis was established in 1917 as a training facility for soldiers to prepare for combat during the growing threat of war in Europe. During its long and proud history as a training ground for the U.S. Army, Camp Bullis hosted many infantry divisions including the first one associated with Fort Sam Houston in 1917 – the 90th “Tough Ombres.” Camp Bullis continued to be the processing and training center for distinguished infantry divisions stationed at Fort Sam Houston until the end of World War II.

In 1946, the Army’s Surgeon announced that Fort Sam Houston would be the new site of the U.S. Army Medical Field Service School. At this pivotal moment, with the Army’s medical research and training centralized at Fort Sam Houston, Camp Bullis became the premiere field-training site for the Army’s medical schools and it remains so today.

One year ago, a new era began when Air Force officials cut the ribbon on an $18 million Medical Readiness Training Center at Camp Bullis. The new facility includes five training aircraft that were moved to the site so students could also get training in aeromedical evacuation. At this new facility, Camp Bullis will provide medical readiness training for 15,000 members annually from four uniformed services.

As reported by Steve Elliott on the U.S. Air Force website, the Air Force Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Charles Green, said at the grand opening “The ability to train out here, in terms of field environment and with the actual equipment they will use when they deploy, is unlimited. It’s an amazing thing.”

Currently, Camp Bullis provides field training for numerous courses of the U.S. Army Medical Department Center & School at Fort Sam Houston including the 232nd Medical Battalion which trains the U.S. Army’s combat medics.

Beyond the medical component, Camp Bullis provides field training for several courses of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland Air Force Base, as well as training resources for numerous other Active Component and Reserve Component units.

Beyond the medical component, Camp Bullis provides field training for several courses of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland Air Force Base, as well as training resources for numerous other Active Component and Reserve Component units.

So now you’ve met your neighbor. In the future, maybe some local residents won’t overlook Camp Bullis as they pass by its fence. Instead, they’ll take a moment to send good wishes to those behind it while they train to defend America.

The Camp Bullis Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) is the result of a collaborative planning process among the City of San Antonio, the City of Fair Oaks Ranch, Bexar, Comal and Kendall Counties, other local jurisdictions/agencies, Camp Bullis/ Fort Sam Houston, and land owners.

Established in 2009, the Camp Bullis JLUS promotes compatible land use and growth management guidelines between the military and its civilian neighbors. The goal is to protect the viability of current and future missions at Camp Bullis while at the same time accommodating growth, sustaining the economic health of the region, and protecting public health and safety. While addressing a Leon Springs Business Association luncheon last June, Frank Sherman of the San Antonio Office of Military Affairs said that the planned cooperative land use between the military and surrounding communities has been successful. At that time, he noted that 73% of the study’s 68 recommendations had been implemented, including zoning areas in which Camp Bullis and surrounding communities are cooperating on issues of noise, safety, height of construction, and protecting endangered species.

Perhaps most noticeable is the implementation of the Dark Skies Ordinance, a measure passed by San Antonio’s City Council in August 2009 and endorsed by Mayor Julian Castro. This measure expands the buffer zone from three to five miles within which downward lighting must be used on new developments within the City’s jurisdiction. Mayor Castro said that this measure goes a long way toward preserving the nighttime helicopter medic training conducted at Camp Bullis.

Referring to this lighting measure and several other recommendations contained in the Camp Bullis JLUS, Mayor Castro said “Protecting the military is a priority in San Antonio. We will do whatever is legally enforceable to make sure we continue to be known as Military City USA for decades to come.”