page_title: Camp Ripley
section_title: Camp Ripley State Training Facility
hierarchical_section_title: Camp Ripley / Camp Ripley State Training Facility
caption_attribution_description: English: 1-337th BSB after conducting Observer/Controller duties at Camp Ripley for the Combat Sustainment Training Exercise 17-86-03.
context_page_description: Camp Ripley is a 53,000-acre military and civilian training facility operated by the Minnesota National Guard near the city of Little Falls in the central part of the state. The location of the camp was selected in 1929 by Ellard A. Walsh, Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota. The site's winter warfare training course is the primary facility used by the National Guard for winter combat exercises. Camp Ripley also hosts the training academy for the Minnesota State Patrol and is a popular site for athletes training to compete in winter biathlons. Most Minnesota Guard soldiers train at Camp Ripley during two-week annual training periods.
  The camp is a state game refuge with resources managed cooperatively by the Department of Military Affairs and Department of Natural Resources. It also houses the Minnesota Military Museum, a museum that is open for the public and military personnel. Also on the grounds is the site of Fort Ripley, a military post established in 1848—the second ever built in Minnesota—to keep the peace among the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk people.
  The Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery is also located on the grounds of Camp Ripley.
context_section_description: Camp Ripley is the training site for the National Guard, Minnesota State Patrol, Minnesota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, Minnesota DNR, Minnesota State Fire Marshal (Minnesota Board of Firefighter Training and Education), and Foreign exchange programs.  The Army Reserve often trains at Camp Ripley during the summer.
caption: Unit photo at the entry to Camp Ripley
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