Back Форт Блисс CE Fort Bliss CEB Fort Bliss German Fort Bliss Spanish فورت بلیس Persian Fort Bliss French Fort Bliss (Teksas) Croatian Fort Bliss, Texas HT Fort Bliss Italian 포트 블리스 Korean
 | This article contains promotional content. (October 2023) |
| Fort Bliss | |
|---|---|
| Part of Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) | |
| El Paso County, Texas and Doña Ana / Otero counties, New Mexico, Southwestern United States | |
 A 1-37AR, 1st Armored Division Abrams tank crew on Fort Bliss' Orogrande Range Camp in 2019. | |
  Fort Bliss Location of Fort Bliss  Fort Bliss Fort Bliss (the United States) | |
| Coordinates | 31°48′07″N 106°25′29″W / 31.801847°N 106.424608°W |
| Type | Military base |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |  United States (1849–1861) Confederate States (1861–1862) United States (1862–present) |
| Facilities[1] | Biggs Army Airfield McGregor Range |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1849–1893[2] |
| In use | 1849–present[3] |
| Garrison information | |
| Current commander | MG James P. Isenhower III |
| Past commanders | John J. Pershing |
| Garrison |  1st Armored Division
|
| Occupants | DCG:
|
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1848, the fort was renamed in 1854 to honor Bvt.Lieut.Colonel William W.S. Bliss (1815–1853), U.S. Army officer, Private Secretary and son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor.[6][7]
Fort Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2); it is the largest installation in FORSCOM (United States Army Forces Command) and second-largest in the Army overall (the largest being the adjacent White Sands Missile Range). The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract (1,500 sq mi or 3,900 km2) of restricted airspace[8] in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres (401,000 ha) boasts the largest maneuver area (ahead of the National Training Center, which has 642,000 acres (260,000 ha)).[1] The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres (0.45×106 ha), ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.[9] Fort Bliss also includes the Castner Range National Monument.
- ^ a b "Fort Bliss". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 24 September 2006.
- ^ A total of five areas have housed the military post from its original creation to the present; this time frame takes into account the construction for each.
- ^ Fort Bliss was abandoned twice before it became a permanent facility; this time frame does not take into account the years when the post was not in service.
- ^ German Air Force train at Fort Bliss[usurped]
- ^ David Burge (8 November 2018) German Air Defense Center trains at Fort Bliss[usurped]
- ^ U.S. Mexican War, William W. S. Bliss, https://usmexicanwar.cctexas.com/blisswws (accessed Feb 5, 2025)
- ^ Register of Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy Class of 1833, Cullums_Register #715, The University of Chicago, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/715*.html (accessed Feb 5, 2025)
- ^ 2012 Sustainable Ranges Report, Appendix C: Maps and Inventory of Ranges, Range Complexes, Military Training Routes, and Special Use Areas Archived 24 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Welcome to Fort Bliss; Archived 16 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine access-date=2018-07-16