Camp Gruber Camp Gruber Maneuver Training Center is an Oklahoma Army National Guard ( OKARNG ) training facility used for Summer field training exercises and for monthly drills . It covers a total of . The base is named after General Edmund L . Gruber . Camp Gruber is located near Braggs , Oklahoma in the Cookson Hills , about southeast of Muskogee , Oklahoma . The Oklahoma Wildlife Department and the OKARNG have in place a cooperative agreement that allows limited hunting by civilians on the base . History . The outbreak of the Second World War in Europe in September 1939 prompted President Franklin D . Roosevelt to declare a limited national emergency on September 8 and step up military preparedness efforts . By June 1940 Congressional measures had augmented the federal budget for construction of arms and munitions plants , coastal defenses , and military training camps and expansion of existing bases . In 1939 the nation ' s armed forces numbered only 200 , 000 , but plans for a six - million - man army had been made . The War Department had carefully developed mobilization plans in 1938 and 1939 , and in 1941 - 42 eighty - four new camps were under construction or were approved . Because Oklahoma ' s location , climate , natural resources , and large available work force were optimum , the War Department considered the state a good site for pilot and infantry training fields . An infantry training camp was to be built near Braggs , in the Cookson Hills . In 1935 and 1936 the U . S . Department of Agriculture had acquired nearly of " submarginal " farm land in eastern Oklahoma , of which was already under federal stewardship as a parks / recreation project . More land was acquired through condemnation . These condemnations included the taking of approximately of restricted land held by the Cherokee Nation . Some of the farmers who had owned or worked the property were relocated by the Resettlement Administration , while others were forced to leave their farms within 45 days while crops were still growing . In 1942 the entire area came under War Department control . The Cookson Hills Project was designed to provide an infantry training center for the U . S . Army ' s Eighth Service Command . The camp ultimately encompassed between of eastern Oklahoma , or approximately of land lying east of the Arkansas River and State Highway 10 in Muskogee and Cherokee counties . The closest community was Braggs , in Muskogee County ; the nearest small metropolitan area was Muskogee , site of Hatbox Field and other defense facilities . Construction on the Cookson Hills facility began in early January 1942 when men of the U . S . Army Corps of Engineers Southwestern Division were transferred from Enid Army Airfield to establish a general headquarters in Muskogee and a field headquarters in Braggs . Soon twenty - five engineers and five truckloads of equipment arrived and set about the daunting task of building a thirty - five - thousand - troop facility . In February 1942 the camp was named " Gruber , " after Brigadier General Edmund L . Gruber , a long - time artillery officer at Fort Sill , Oklahoma . Manhattan - Long Construction Company , which had built other camps in the region , presented the winning bid . The original contract called for the construction of 1 , 731 frame buildings , including 479 barracks , 100 hospital buildings , 55 administration buildings , a bakery , 12 chapels , a laundry , 210 mess halls , 221 recreation buildings , 258 storage warehouses ; 5 theaters , 19 guard houses , 59 motor repair shops , 50 officers ' quarters , and 261 miscellaneous buildings . ( A prisoner war of camp was later added ) . A new supply system would bring water from Greenleaf Lake to a three - million - gallon ( 9 ac · ft ) concrete storage reservoir adjacent to the camp ; sewer , gas , and electrical systems and roads , grading , and drainage were built . The contractor also relocated Highway 10 around the base . Manhattan - Long estimated that it needed to construct one new building every hour , in order to meet the deadline — no real feat , for on the Fort Riley , Kansas , job the company had built one every thirty - eight minutes . The army also used preexisting buildings within the reservation boundary ; a ranch house complex ( built in 1936 by the Pray family ) served as the post commander ' s billet . Construction proceeded at breakneck speed through May 1942 , and the first general order was issued on May 21 . The cantonment consisted of north - south and east - west streets in a U . S . Army modified triangular division layout . This part of the facility served as an area for barracks , for general administration , for engineer , ordnance , maintenance , and chemical warfare operations , and for medical and hospital services . Immediately north of the cantonment were grenade courts , bayonet courts , and obstacle courses . North of these were three small - arms firing ranges . A huge area lying north and east of the training fields ( in both Muskogee and Cherokee counties ) were armor and tank destroyer driving ranges and field , anti - aircraft , and coastal artillery firing ranges ( with a very large , centrally placed " impact " area that lay in Cherokee County ) . On the western shore of Greenleaf Lake lay a third use area with various training and recreation facilities including Greenleaf Lodge ( a 1937 WPA building ) , used as one of the cantonment ' s two Officers ' Clubs . During the course of World War II Camp Gruber provided training to infantry , field artillery , and tank destroyer units that went on to fight in Europe . Units of the segregated 333rd 969th Field Artillery Battalions ( who fought from Utah Beach through Liberation Day . The 333rd & 969th would win the Presidential Unit Citation for their role in fighting side - by - side with the 101st Airborne Division Artillery ) and 88th Infantry Division ( " Blue Devil Division " ) trained at Camp Gruber . In 1943 the 42nd Infantry Division ( " Rainbow Division " ) was reactivated at Gruber . In 1945 the 86th Infantry Division ( " Blackhawk Division " ) was stationed there pending deactivation at the end of the war . Ultimately , more than 44 , 868 troops either served at or trained at the camp , which also employed four thousand civilian workers and incarcerated three thousand German prisoners of war ( in a facility west of Highway 10 , separate from the base ) . Camp Gruber served as infantry and support group training base for the U . S . Army until after the end of World War II . On June 3 , 1947 , Camp Gruber was deactivated and soon became surplus property , with placed under the authority of the War Assets Administration . The federal government retained control . In 1952 the General Services Administration assumed authority over from the WAA , and between 1948 and 1952 the U . S . Army reassumed control of . By 1953 virtually the entire 1942 reservation was in federal hands ( the exception being a area that became part of Greenleaf State Park , under authority of the State of Oklahoma ) . During the 1950s and 1960s most Camp Gruber ' s original buildings and facilities were removed or destroyed . In 1967 the Oklahoma Military Department , Oklahoma Army National Guard ( OKARNG ) , acquired to establish Camp Gruber as a state - operated training area under a twenty - five year federal license from the Tulsa District of the U . S . Corps of Engineers . In 1973 and 1982 and , respectively , were added , for a total of . External links . " This article is based on copyright - free content originally found on a US Department of Defense website . "