In what could be the most significant change in the military presence in San Antonio in decades, the Army is drafting plans to fold two Army commands now headquartered at Fort Sam Houston into a new Western Hemisphere Command.
Where the new command will be located and how many San Antonio-based personnel could be affected is unclear. Still, the news was unsettling for leaders of a city whose economy and image are built around a robust military presence, reflected in the moniker “Military City USA.”
The consolidation is part of an initiative by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to streamline the armed forces, reduce the number of top generals and reorient the military away from what he regards as a “woke” political agenda and toward a renewed focus on “lethality” and “war-fighting.”
The reorganization involves Army North (formerly the 5th Army) and Army South (formerly the 6th Army), both based at Fort Sam Houston…