NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY MID-SOUTH
The Navy's personnel headquarters on the banks of the Mississippi River.
OVERVIEW
Naval Support Activity Mid-South is the U.S. Navy's principal personnel and human resources headquarters site, occupying about 3,400 acres in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis. Approximately 7,500 active-duty Sailors, civilian employees, and contractors work at the base, the great majority of them supporting the Navy's worldwide personnel, manpower, recruiting, and pay enterprise. NSA Mid-South is one of the few major U.S. Navy installations located far inland, and its modern role is unusual among Navy bases — focused on Navy human resources rather than fleet operations or training.
The base hosts the headquarters of Navy Personnel Command (NPC), the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS), Navy Recruiting Command, and the Navy Manpower Analysis Center, among many other personnel-related commands and detachments. Together these activities manage the careers, assignments, advancement, recruiting, retention, and pay of every member of the U.S. Navy. Other tenants include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District (a non-Navy tenant taking advantage of the available office and warehouse space) and a variety of joint and federal personnel-related activities. The base supports a substantial active-duty Sailor population assigned to the headquarters commands and a large civilian workforce drawn from the Memphis metropolitan area.
KEY FACTS
- MissionHeadquarters site for the U.S. Navy's personnel, manpower, and recruiting enterprise
- LineageSuccessor to historic Naval Air Station Memphis (1942–1995)
- Major TenantsNavy Personnel Command, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Recruiting Command
- Geographic PositionLocated in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis
- Inland SettingMajor inland Navy installation supporting the worldwide Navy personnel enterprise
HISTORY
The military installation at Millington, Tennessee, traces its origins to 1942, when the U.S. Navy established Naval Air Station Memphis at the inland Tennessee site to support the rapidly expanding wartime naval aviator and aviation maintenance training enterprise. The Navy already operated a sprawling primary training operation centered on Naval Air Station Pensacola, but the demands of the Pacific war required additional inland training capacity well removed from coastal areas vulnerable to enemy attack. The Millington site offered available land, year-round flying weather, and proximity to the major rail and river transportation hub of Memphis.
Through World War II, NAS Memphis trained thousands of Navy and Marine Corps aviators and aviation maintenance personnel for Pacific operations. After the war the base was retained, and through the 1950s and 1960s it became the principal U.S. Navy site for aviation technical training under the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) — teaching aviation electronics, mechanical, and ordnance specialties to enlisted aviation Sailors. The aviation training mission peaked through the Vietnam War era, when NATTC and supporting NAS Memphis training squadrons trained tens of thousands of Navy aviation Sailors each year.
The post-Cold War drawdown drove a major reorganization of Navy training infrastructure. The 1993 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round directed the realignment of NAS Memphis, moving NATTC to NAS Pensacola (where it co-located with other naval aviation training organizations), closing the NAS Memphis airfield, and consolidating Navy aviation maintenance training at coastal sites. To preserve the substantial available facilities at the Millington site, BRAC 1993 also directed the relocation of Navy Personnel Command, the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and the Navy Recruiting Command from Washington, D.C. to Millington — taking advantage of the available office space and lower cost of living. The base was redesignated Naval Support Activity Mid-South in 1995, and the personnel commands relocated to the site through the late 1990s.
In the years since, NSA Mid-South has solidified its identity as the U.S. Navy's principal personnel headquarters site. The base today supports a workforce of about 7,500 active-duty Sailors, civilian employees, and contractors, almost all of them engaged in some aspect of the Navy's worldwide personnel enterprise. Despite its inland location and the loss of the historical aviation mission, NSA Mid-South remains one of the most important shore commands in the Navy — touching the career and life of virtually every Navy Sailor at some point in their service.
MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS
- Navy Personnel Command (NPC)
- Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS)
- Navy Recruiting Command
- Navy Manpower Analysis Center
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District (tenant)
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
NOTABLE EVENTS
- 1942NAS Memphis EstablishedNaval Air Station Memphis established at Millington, Tennessee to support wartime naval aviator and aviation maintenance training.
- 1976Naval Air Technical Training CenterNAS Memphis established as the principal site for Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC), training tens of thousands of Navy aviation maintenance personnel each year.
- 1995BRAC RealignmentBRAC 1993 directed the realignment of NAS Memphis: NATTC moved to NAS Pensacola, the airfield closed, and the base was redesignated Naval Support Activity Mid-South to host Navy Personnel Command.