Campamento Santiago

Camp Santiago
Salinas, Puerto Rico
92nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia.
Type	Military Training Site
Site information
Controlled by	Puerto Rico National Guard
Site history
Built	1940
In use	1940 - present
Garrison information
Garrison	92nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade

Camp Santiago Joint Maneuver Training Center (CSJMTC) is the Puerto Rico National Guard training center on 12,000 acres of land located in Salinas, Puerto Rico.

Installation

Though it has no permanent residents, Camp Santiago can house thousands of troops on a temporarily basis, some old barracks are being replaced with new 2 level barracks, a Puerto Rico National Guard Museum, a theater, a Class Six Shoppette and in 2009 AAFES opened a new Post exchange and gas station on base. With rifle and pistol ranges, a leadership reaction course, dinning facilities, a chapel, classrooms and maintenance shops makes Camp Santiago the best military training facility in Puerto Rico. An $1.7 million Urban Assault Course will be constructed at Camp Santiago.

Campamento Santiago or Salinas as is commonly known is use by the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Puerto Rico Air National Guard and National Guard units from the Unites States also use Camp Santiago for their annual military readiness training. The Army ROTC and the Air Force ROTC held their semester field training exercises at Camp Santiago. The Puerto Rico Rifle and Pistol Association hold their state championship every year in Camp Santago.

History

Soldiers of the 65th Infantry training in Salinas, Puerto Rico. August 1941.

In 1941 the 65th Infantry Regiment was the first combat unit to train at this Southern Puerto Rico military camp before being sent to Panama to protect the Panama Canal during War World II.

This Military facility was renamed from Camp Salinas to Camp Santiago in 1975 in honor of Specialist Four Héctor Santiago-Colón who received the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Salinas, Puerto Rico was Specialist Hector Santiago's birth place.

From 1990 til 1991 all Puerto Rican military units such as the 92nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade reported to Camp Santiago for initial training in preparation before deployment to Operation Desert Storm. From 2001 Camp Santiago also had a roll in training National Guard and Reserve units in Puerto Rico for the Operation Enduring Freedom during the War in Afghanistan and the War on Terror. In 2006 Soldiers went back to Camp Santiago to prepare for the Iraq War in Operation Desert Shield.