2nd Lt. Samantha Rieger carries a soldier in from the scene of a simulated attack at Camp Bullis in May. Soldiers were competing for the Army’s Elite Medical Badge at the camp, which is the scene of extensive field medical training. U.S. Army photo by Minnie Jones

Camp Bullis officials warn Dominion of encroachment

By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer

On a cold December night in a dark, star-speckled sky, paratroopers jump one by one out of an airplane, with no idea where they are or where they’re going once their feet hit the ground.

The scene U.S. Army Col. John Dixon is describing to a roomful of Dominion chapter Rotarians isn’t in the south of France during World War II or in Vietnam in 1968 or during the current war in Iraq. The plane is hovering over Camp Bullis training paratroopers for the theater of war.

If it wasn’t for the existence of the field medical training at Camp Bullis, he says, Fort Sam Houston would not be getting its much touted new facilities that will train every branch of the military.

“The reason that Camp Bullis is important has to do with the fact that it provides Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines a place where they can do realistic field medical training,” Dixon says. “If we were to lose the facility at Camp Bullis, we would endanger the training at Fort Sam Houston.”

Realism is the most important aspect to military training today, he told the Rotarians.

“Field medics aren’t trained in the laboratory, in a clinic, or in a hospital. They are trained out in a very dirty, dusty, dangerous, cold, wet, hot, whatever the conditions might be,” Dixon says. “They are realistic combat situations.”

In modern times, the medics learn how to use night vision goggles that rely on ambient light or pure darkness, something that has been threatened, he says, by lights from new development in the area surrounding Camp Bullis.

“Any disruption to this pure darkness causes this fellow to lose vision,” Dixon said.

This type of threat can be summed up in one word, encroachment, caused by the creeping of development up Interstate 10.

A satellite view he showed the audience illustrates that development is right at Camp Bullis’ door. Dixon says the challenge now is to protect the base so that the Army can go forward as it needs to.

Dixon told the Rotarians during a slide show presentation that the population in San Antonio in 1970 was about 650,000.

“In 1980, there was a lot of growth around the north side of 1604. Then, beginning in 1990, growth intensified around 1604,” Dixon said. In 2000, Camp Bullis is shown surrounded by red dots, each one representing about 10,000 people.

“The point of this is that Camp Bullis is an island amidst an awful lot of growth,” Dixon said. ”The Dominion borders right on Camp Bullis. Camp Bullis is becoming a refuge for the endangered species.”

According to Gen. David Cannan, the Endangered Species Act requires that the Army take great care that the wildlife in danger of extinction are allowed to stay on the base.

“If the Army finds that there is a golden-cheeked warbler nesting in any of these areas, they can’t train there. It’s important that a long term plan be put in place,” Cannan said. “It’s federal law. The military has to follow it. It’s one of the things I dealt with significantly. You can’t ignore it.”

Cannan said it’s encouraging that local leadership is taking steps to implement controls.

“It’s important that leaders say, ‘we believe we have an encroachment problem,’ and then, take some action and follow through with findings of the joint land use study expected to be completed by next May and ensure those things are done,” Cannon said.