31,000 military and civilian employees are part of the Augusta River Region.
The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce’s June 4 Power Lunch focused on the economic impact Fort Eisenhower has across the seven counties at the heart of the CSRA.
Guest speaker was Dr. Tom Clark, Executive Director of the Alliance for Fort Eisenhower. Clark served in the U.S. Army for 32 years reaching the rank of Command Sergeant Major (CSM) before his retirement.
Started in 2003 when then-Fort Gordon faced closing under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), the Alliance rallied community, political, and business sectors to demonstrate support for the post. The post was spared in 2005 and, since then, has grown in size, missions, and personnel.
It is now the home of the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command and the Cyber Center of Excellence.
Clark said that has brought 9,000 new service members, their families, and support personnel in the past eight years. More are still on the way.
“There’s a battalion that’s coming in, another support company, about 500 people in the next couple of years,” Clark explained. “A permanent battalion stationed here on the Army Cyber end of the installation. And those folks are usually higher rank with more expendable income. So, they are cyber professionals to GS employees, those types of folks, so they are permanent parties.”
The latest figures from the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) listed more than 31,000 military and civilian employees, making it the largest, non-manufacturing employer with a nearly $2.4 billion economic impact annually.
In addition to growing the population, Clark said the federal government has pumped billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure improvement into the facility.
“Four billion dollars’ worth of infrastructure improvement, that is going on the installation,” he said. “About $2 billion already done and $2 billion projected.”
The personnel growth at and around the Army post caught the attention of the CSRA Regional Commission (CSRARC). In 2021, in partnership with Canada-based Stantec, the commission launched a study on the impact that has had to date and will continue to have in the future.
Called the Fort Gordon Regional Growth Management Plan (GMP), it is broken down into nine chapters covering demographics and population projections, transportation, police and fire protection, economic and workforce development, education, health care, housing, childcare, public utilities, and infrastructure. The study focused on Augusta-Richmond, Columbia, Burke, Lincoln, and McDuffie Counties in Georgia, along with Aiken and Edgefield Counties in South Carolina.
The final report was published in August 2022 with three primary goals:
“To implement priority recommendations included in the GMP, in order to continue supporting Fort Gordon, including service members and their dependents’ quality of life.”
“To enable and facilitate the coordination of region’s various stakeholders in managing and mitigating Installation growth impacts.”
“To continually monitor progress in implementing the GMP.”
The full report is available at https://csrarc.ga.gov/fggmp.
Clark said Fort Eisenhower is no longer seen primarily as a training facility, a place for military personnel to be stationed during training and then transferred to a duty assignment. With the cyber missions, many personnel are stationed here, and thousands ultimately make their homes in the CSRA.
“Almost 3,000 people a year get out from Fort Eisenhower and join the workforce here. They did a survey that 67% of the folks said they would stay here if they had a job,” he said. “This is almost 3,000 folks who have security clearances predominantly in MI (Military Intelligence), cyber, logistics and are staying here and working in our area.”
The North Augusta Chamber is joining with The Columbia County Chamber, the Greater Augusta Black Chamber, and the Greater Augusta chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) to demonstrate the region’s support for the local military. The annual Military Appreciation luncheon is set for Wed., June 12 at Savannah Rapids Pavilion, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Keynote Speaker will be Specialist Five James McCloughan, a Medal of Honor recipient for his service in Vietnam.
