Fort A . P . Hill Fort A . P . Hill , Virginia , is an active duty installation of the United States Army , located near the town of Bowling Green , Virginia . Named for Virginia native and distinguished Confederate Lieutenant General A . P . Hill , Fort A . P . Hill , known as the place " Where America ' s Military Sharpens Its Combat Edge " is an all - purpose , year - round , military training center located approximately 60 miles south of the Washington , D . C . With 76 , 000 acres ( 310 km² ) of land , including a modern 28 , 000 acre ( 110 km² ) , live - fire range complex featuring more than 100 direct and indirect fire ranges , as well as a helicopter aerial gunnery range ; it is one of the largest military installations on the East Coast . Military units can engage in training ranging from small unit operations to major maneuvers with combined arms , live - fire exercises . History . After the American Revolutionary War , ordnance , arms , and military stores accumulated at New London , Virginia , for decades . The current fort rests on the site of the former New London Arsenal . In the spring of 1940 , the War Plans Division of the Army General Staff developed a plan to raise a national army of four million men to conduct simultaneous operations in the Pacific and Europe theaters . In July 1940 , a movement began to locate an area of approximately , independent of any post , and lying somewhere between the Potomac River and the upper Chesapeake Bay . Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Marston , an artillery officer stationed in Richmond , Virginia and acting as an agent of the Third Corps Area commander , made a detailed investigation of the Bowling Green , Virginia area in September 1940 . He enthusiastically recommended that the War Department procure the Caroline County site . The result was a maneuver area that contained 77 , 332 acres and billeting space for 74 officers and 858 enlisted personnel . Fort A . P . Hill was established as an Army training facility on June 11 , 1941 , pursuant to War Department General Order No . 5 . In its first year , the installation was used as a maneuver area for the II Corps and for three activated National Guard divisions from Mid - Atlantic states . In the autumn of 1942 , Fort A . P . Hill was the staging area for the headquarters and corps troops of Major General George S . Patton ’ s Task Force A , which invaded French Morocco in North Africa . During the early years of World War II , the post continued to be a training site for corps and division - sized units . Commencing in 1944 , field training for Officer Candidate School and enlisted replacements from nearby Forts Lee , Eustis , and Belvoir was conducted . During the Korean War , Fort A . P . Hill was designated as Camp A . P . Hill and was a major staging area for units deploying to Europe , including the VII Corps Headquarters and the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment . The fort was the major center for Engineer Officer Candidate School training ( students from Fort Belvoir ) during the Vietnam War . Today , Fort A . P . Hill is a training and maneuver center focused on providing realistic joint and combined arms training . All branches of the armed forces train on Fort A . P . Hill , and the installation has also hosted training of foreign allies ranging from providing support for mobilizations to helping units train for deployment . Training . It is used year - round for military training of both active and reserve troops of the army , navy , marines , and air force , as well as ROTC cadets and other government agencies including the Departments of State and Interior , the United States Customs Service , and federal , state , and local security and law enforcement agencies . Fort A . P . Hill and the Boy Scouts of America . The installation has also hosted the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree in 1981 , 1985 , 1989 , 1993 , 1997 , 2001 , 2005 , and 2010 . The number of participants each time included approximately 35 , 000 Boy Scouts and some 250 , 000 visitors . After the very costly 1973 and 1977 National Jamborees , the Boy Scouts wanted to find a permanent location to lower the costs associated with establishing a temporary city every four years . They worked with the military to find a base so that infrastructure like roads , plumbing , and electricity would not have to be installed every four years . They paid to have some permanent utilities installed on - post for use every four years . The Boy Scouts have since moved the National Jamboree to its new permanent home at high - adventure camp in Fayette County , West Virginia beginning in 2013 . The National Jamboree is no longer hosted at Fort A . P . Hill .