Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield is a world-class facility with a 10,000-foot runway, multiple hangars, a control tower, and a Rapid Deployment Facility to stage and deploy the division’s troops and equipment only minutes from their modern, consolidated unit areas.

Long before it was designated Fort Drum, the training ground on the North Country’s "Pine Plains" was host to forces from all branches of the military. In 1927, Captain Curtis Wheeler, 32, and Lieutenant Carl J. Sack, 23, both from New York City, were killed while supporting troops training on the ground. The two were practicing dropping messages to the soldiers when Wheeler was thrown forward onto the rudder. Sack lost control and their aircraft crashed. Today’s Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield (WSAAF) honors their memory. From 1941-43, Wheeler-Sack Army Air Field underwent major expansion while the operational home of the 91st Observation Squadron. The unit was attached to the 4th Armored Division, and during that time, two new, 150- X 4,500-foot runways and an all-steel hangar were built to help the flyers accomplish their missions. The hangar served as the ceremonial site during the 10th Mountain Division’s reactivation in 1985.

Rapid deployment is the foundation for a ready 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry. Ninety-six hours after notification, the division is expected to deploy by air, sea and land, worldwide. Fort Drum's railhead received significant upgrades in FY97 adding to the safe and rapid loading of vehicles and equipment for rail deployment. Upgrades included new road construction, lighting at the railhead, and a new railhead control building that extensively aids in the command, control, and support of rail operations at Fort Drum.

The Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield (WSAAF) expansion project, completed in November 1998, allowed the division to move its primary departure airfield from Griffiss Air Force Base (85 miles away) to Fort Drum. The expanded WSAAF runway accommodates all U.S. Air Force aircraft and additional airfield deployment facilities include scales, an ammunition holding area, refueling points, and a vehicle staging and inspection area. A new rapid deployment facility at WSAAF holds up to 1,200 soldiers permitting soldiers to stage and conduct deployment processing at the airfield. Both the railhead improvements and airfield expansion project increase the installation's capability as a power projection platform to sustain and deploy forces.

Fort Drum has been used as a military training site since 1908, however the Army's presence in the North Country may be traced back to the early 1800's. In 1809 a company of infantry soldiers was stationed at Sacket's Harbor to enforce the Embargo Act and control smuggling between northern New York and Canada. Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor became the center of United States Naval and military activity for the Upper St. Lawrence River Valley and Lake Ontario. During the 1830's and 40's, the Patriots War in Canada prompted a new round of military preparations and Madison Barracks became the home of artillery units.

In 1908, Brigadier General Frederick Dent Grant, son of General Ulysses S. Grant, was sent here with 2,000 regulars and 8,000 militia. He found Pine Plains to be an ideal place to train troops. The following year money was allocated to purchase the land and summer training continued here through the years. The camp's first introduction to the national spotlight came in 1935 when the largest peacetime maneuvers were held on Pine Plains and surrounding farm lands. Thirty-six thousand, five hundred soldiers came from throughout the Northeast to take part in the exercise. Some soldiers traveled by trains which arrived in town every 15 minutes, coming from as far away as Buffalo and New York City. For 36 hours, young men from offices, factories, and farms marched, attacked and defended in tactical exercises on the 100-miles the Army had leased for its war games. The maneuvers were judged to be most successful and the War Department purchased another 9,000 acres of land.

With the outbreak of World War Two, the area now known as Pine Camp was selected for a major expansion and an additional 75,000 acres of land was purchased. With that purchase, 525 local families were displaced. Five entire villages were eliminated, while others were reduced from one-third to one-half their size. By Labor Day 1941, 100 tracts of land were taken over. Three thousand buildings, including 24 schools, 6 churches and a post office were abandoned. Contractors then went to work, and in a period of 10 months at a cost of $20 million, an entire city was built to house the divisions scheduled to train here. Eight hundred buildings were constructed; 240 barracks, 84 mess halls, 86 storehouses, 58 warehouses, 27 officers' quarters, 22 headquarters buildings, and 99 recreational buildings as well as guardhouses and a hospital. Construction workers paid the price, as the winter of 1941-42 was one of the coldest in North Country history. The three divisions to train at Pine Camp were General George S. Patton's 4th Armored Division (Gen. Creighton Abrams was a battalion commander here at the time), the 45th Infantry Division and the 5th Armored Division.

The post also served as a prisoner of war camp. Of those prisoners who died here, one Italian and six Germans are still buried in the Sheepfold Cemetery near Remington Pond.

Pine Camp became Camp Drum in 1951, named after Lt. Gen. Hugh A. Drum who commanded the First Army during World War II. During and after the Korean Conflict a number of units were stationed and trained here to take advantage of the terrain and climate. The post was designated Fort Drum in 1974 and a permanent garrison was assigned. In April 1980, B Company, 76th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) was reassigned here from Fort Meade, Md. It was followed by the rest of the battalion, less Company D, three years later. In January 1984, the Department of the Army announced it was studying selected Army posts to house a new light infantry division. On September 11, 1984, the announcement was made that Fort Drum would be the new home of the 10th Light Infantry Division.

The first division troops arrived at Fort Drum on December 3, 1984 and the unit was officially activated on February 13, 1985. The name was changed to the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) at that time. The division reached full strength in 1989. Between 1986 and 1992, 130 new buildings, 35 miles of roads, and 4,272 sets of family housing units were built at a cost of $1.3 billion.

The mission of the 10th Mountain Division (LI) is to be manned and trained to deploy rapidly by air, sea, and land anywhere in the world, prepared to fight upon arrival and win.

On June 4, 1985, the identity of a Roundout Brigade was announced. The brigade was composed of New York Army National Guard battalions from central and northern New York under the 27th Infantry Brigade.

On June 28, 1985, the 76th Engineer Battalion was inactivated. The 10th Combat Aviation Brigade was activated at Griffis Air Force Base in Rome, New York as part of the 10th Mountain Division on 2 July 1988. It has played a key role in all division missions, most recently for Stabilization Force 6 (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hurrican Andrew Relief in South Florida, Operation Restore Hope and Continue Hope in Somalia, and Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti.
In each instance, the Brigade has demonstrated its capability to rapidly deploy and conduct aviation missions upon arrival while emphasizing safety and readiness throughout. Our mission is to maintain an aviation brigade, trained and ready to deploy anywhere in the world to conduct combat, combat support and combat service. Support aviation operations to enable the 10th Mountain Division to fight and win!

Today, Fort Drum consists of 107,265 acres. Its mission includes command of active component units assigned to the installation, provide administrative and logistical support to tenant units, support to tenant units, support to active and reserve units from all services in training at Fort Drum, and planning and support for the mobilization and training of almost 80,000 troops annually.

Fort Drum is a major training center for reserve component forces, and units of the New York Army National Guard rank among the post’s most frequent customers. The nearly 12,000-member New York Army National Guard is comprised of state headquarters and three major commands: Headquarters 42nd Infantry Division (Mechanized); Headquarters 53rd Troop Command, and the 27th Separate Infantry Brigade (Enhanced). Battalions, companies and detachments of these commands are distributed among more than 60 armories across the state from Niagara Falls, to the tip of Long Island. These units regularly come to Fort Drum for weekend Inactive Duty Training and Annual Training during the year. Fort Drum’s ranges, training areas and facilities are essential to the New York Army National Guard to meet readiness objectives and federal training requirements.

The New York Army National Guard also maintains the bulk of its deployable vehicles and equipment at its Mobilization and Training Equipment Site on Fort Drum. Guard units training on the post draw their equipment from MATES as needed, and return them when training is completed. Combined Support Maintenance Shop D is co-located with MATES.

Fort Drum celebrated its 100th anniversary in June 2008 and photos from the airshow can be seen here!