The New Jersey military post that survived riots, plots, and near-closure

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: From a 1917 training camp to a massive three-service joint base, Fort Dix has seen it all. It has hosted prisoner revolts, survived anti-war bombings, and even served as the setting for a 1980s video game. Discover the complex history of this vital American installation.

Established in July 1917 as Camp Dix, the site was originally designed to organize and equip recruits during World War I. Named after Major General John Adams Dix—a veteran of both the War of 1812 and the American Civil War—the camp served as a vital hub for the 153rd Depot Brigade and the 'Lightning Division.' Over the decades, its mission evolved from a simple staging ground to a complex training center that even prepared troops for the Vietnam War by constructing mock Vietnamese villages.

The post's history is marked by intense internal and external pressures. In 1969, a massive riot broke out in the military stockade, where 250 prisoners protested starvation and harsh treatment, leading to the famous 'Free the Fort Dix 3..' movement. The base also faced domestic threats, such as a 1970 plot by the Weather Underground to detonate a nail bomb during an officers' dance. Even more recently, in 2007, authorities arrested six individuals for plotting an armed attack on the installation.

Despite facing the threat of closure during the 1980s and 1990s base realignment processes, Fort Dix transformed. In 2009, it was consolidated with nearby Air Force and Navy facilities to form Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the only three-service joint base in the United States. Today, while it no longer manages its own primary basic training mission, it remains a massive 31,000-acre training reservation, supporting everything from the U.S. Coast Guard's Atlantic Strike Team to a large federal correctional institution.

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