page_title: 490th Civil Affairs Battalion
section_title: Presidio of Monterey
hierarchical_section_title: 490th Civil Affairs Battalion / Origins / World War II / Presidio of Monterey
caption_attribution_description: Civil Affairs Staging Area (CASA) soldiers train with the M3A1 Submachine Gun.
context_page_description: The 490th Civil Affairs Battalion is a civil affairs unit of the United States Army Reserve located at the Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve Complex in Grand Prairie, Texas and organized under the 321st Civil Affairs Brigade, 350th Civil Affairs Command, United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command or USACAPOC. The 490th is composed of Headquarters and Headquarters Company and its four tactical companies, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta. The unit was activated for service during World War II, the Berlin Crisis, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
context_section_description: The Presidio of Monterrey served as the central mobilization and holding site for all Military Government and Civil Affairs forces from all branches of service (mainly US Navy and US Army) in response to the realization for a need to successfully manage the occupations of Europe and Japan for reconstruction. The training center was named the Civil Affairs Staging Area (CASA).
  An August report from the commander of the CASA to the Civil Affairs Division (re-designated in 1960 as the Civil Affairs Branch) described physically demanding field exercises involving ruck marches, amphibious assault, scaling cliffs, and infiltration through perimeter defenses, which were "geared toward a possible invasion of Japan before military government teams could assume occupation duties."
caption: Civil Affairs Staging Area soldiers train with the M3A1 submachine gun.
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