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    Lackland AFB, TX History

    Lackland AFB began in 1941 as a field for Kelly Field, then one of the Army Air Corps main training centers. In later 1942 Lackland was separated from Kelly, named San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, and assigned the mission of training air corps cadets, instructing pre-flight trainees. This mission continued through the war. In 1947 San Antonio was renamed after Brigade General Frank Lackland, and became the only basic military training facility for the newly minted US Air Force.

    In 1951, Lackland AFB became one of the original sites for Air Defense Command's radar station network, a function now transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration.

    Over the next twenty years Lackland's training facilities and mission expanded and contracted, and training periods varied, eventually settling on 6 weeks and 16 training squadrons. Language courses and other non-technical training have come and gone, but the basic training mission has only varied one, in 1966, when a medical infection concern forced a partial and temporary transfer of training to San Antonio AFB.

    The end of the Cold War saw a military wide reduction in force sizes, and after 2001 Lackland absorbed much of the equipment and infrastructure of its parent base, Kelly Field, and also receive its first flying mission units as well as Security Hill, housing various tenant units, including the 24th Air Force, 67th Network Warfare Wing, and the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency headquarters. 2009 brought a new round of base adjustments, and Lackland joined other local Air Force and Army bases in Joint Base San Antonio.