COMMUNITY PROFILE: Radcliff and Hardin County

Tanks a Lot!
Radcliff and Fort Knox enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship

Many Kentucky cities have a history going back more than 200 years. Compared to them, Radcliff is an energetic, growing youngster. It is perhaps the only city in America that owes its existence to the development of tank warfare.

Incorporated in 1956, Radcliff is directly next to Fort Knox, home of the U.S. Army Armor Center and the Treasury Department’s Bullion Depository. The amount of gold held in the Depository’s vault is secret – with estimated holdings somewhere between 147.3 million and 649.6 million ounces of the precious metal.

Itself a certified Kentucky city, Fort Knox is a U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command installation with the primary mission of training soldiers for the Armor Force. “The base itself carries out a very important mission,” said Maj. Gen. R. Stephen Whitcomb, Fort Knox’s commander. “And that’s training soldiers and leaders for the armored force and cavalry.”

The base covers 109,054 acres or approximately 170 square miles. It’s the seventh largest urban community in Kentucky, with a daytime population of about 33,000. The U.S. Armor School – the most modern training facility of its kind in the world – is the heart of the Armor Center. It’s also the home of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and the Second Region ROTC and Readiness Group Knox.

Each month, more than $7 million is generated for the surrounding community by Fort Knox. More than $29 million in salaries are paid on the base each month to military personnel and civilian employees. Each year, more than $240 million is spent by Fort Knox for the procurement of supplies and contractual services. When Mayor Sheila Enyart says that an active Fort Knox results in her city of Radcliff also being economically healthy, it’s evident that she means what she says.

“We are participating in a partnership study with Fort Knox and surrounding communities to determine where we can strengthen and solidify our relationship with the military base,” Enyart said. “Even though our city needs to develop our own identity and not be solely dependant upon the base, the September 11th incidents showed how closely we are tied to the military. We all have friends, family members or neighbors who very well might take part in this conflict.”

According to Whitcomb, the military and civilian personnel at Fort Knox enjoy Kentucky life and appreciate their Radcliff neighbors. “Fort Knox was created in the mid-20th century and Radcliff, naturally, grew with the base,” he said. “Some of the other military towns have their relationship to their adjacent bases on an economic basis alone, but with Radcliff and Fort Knox, it goes beyond that. We work together here. That’s what makes the difference.

“We have a better relationship with the off-post community here than at many of the other places I’ve worked,” the general said. “We share a lot of resources. Our base has two golf courses, a sizeable aquatics center and everything from skeet ranges to bowling alleys and clubs that are open for dinner or private parties – they’re all open for Kentuckians to come and partake. Candidly, we probably couldn’t support them without the support we get from the community.”

Along with the sports facilities, the Leaders’ Club (formerly the base’s Officers’ Club) and other recreational places, Fort Knox provides access to community members to college courses taught on base. The installation is also home to the Ireland Army Community Hospital and the Patton Museum.

“I just like this area,” Whitcomb said. “The countryside here is wonderful and there are four distinct seasons here. I’m always amazed at the number of retirees, both senior non-coms and officers, who’ve lived all over the world, but who settle here. It’s because of a quality of life that’s not just physical, but mental and psychological. It’s difficult to make friends in the military because you move around so much, but my wife and I have a number of friends here. The people are very sincere.”

The general said that retired and former military personnel comprise a skilled and important sector of the area’s work force. “It would surprise most civilians to see how tech-savvy and smart our soldiers and sergeants are,” he said. “The interior of an M1 Abrams tank is comparable to a Boeing 747, and we’ve got kids that know these things inside and out. That requires a pretty sophisticated mind. When those people get out into the general workforce, they are a great fit with industry utilizing high technology.”

A secret to the success of the area’s economic future is a continued healthy relationship between Radcliff and Fort Knox. The leader of each entity serves as a cheerleader for the other.

“We have a common desire to succeed,” Whitcomb said. “Mayor Enyart and I look for ways we can continually better our own and each other’s communities. We want all of our citizens to be successful.”

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