Good Bye Fort Dix

It was a pretty damn tough place to train at and I can't say I had to many fond memories. Pretty much it was cold and miserable, except when it was hot and miserable. I mobilized for Iraq at the place and it was one of the more excruciating experiences of my life. Oh well, Good Bye Dix and welcome Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst?

FORT DIX, N.J. (AP) -- For 92 years, being sent abroad or brought home by the Army has often meant passing through the New Jersey installation known as first as Camp Dix, then Fort Dix.

It was where Elvis Presley was demobilized after his duty in Germany ended in 1960; Hall of Fame Dodgers pitchers Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax had basic training there; even comedian Redd Foxx's Fred Sanford television character talked about kitchen patrol there.

Some 6 million lesser-known soldiers also passed through.As of Thursday, the name will be gone and the Army will be reduced to a tenant on the land.

Fort Dix is being merged with the neighboring McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station to make the military's first three-branch base, a 65-square-mile behemoth stretching through farmland and forests and given the clunky moniker Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

What a terrible name!