Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base and Fayetteville

Fort Bragg is the home of the Army's airborne and special operations forces. The post can claim a lot of other "home of" distinctions: civil affairs and psychological operations, and joint special operations, the secret forces that are playing one of the biggest roles in the war on terrorism.

Serious footage

Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall, a satellite Special Forces training camp, cover more than 160,000 acres in the Sandhills.

The Army post has more than 33 million square feet of buildings. Picerne, a private contractor, manages more than 8.7 million square feet.

There are 19 miles of railroad line on Fort Bragg.

Big-budget repairs

There's $365 million of construction going on at Fort Bragg and $106 million of maintenance and repair.

BRAC changes

Fort Bragg will take over Pope Air Force Base by 2011. Pope again will become an Army airfield.

Do you hear what I hear?

The main purpose of Fort Bragg is training soldiers for combat. To that end, there are seven drop zones, where parachutists land, and four impact areas, where artillery shells land.

Good for housing market

More than two-thirds of Fort Bragg's 50,000 soldiers live off post in the surrounding civilian communities.

Payday activities

The military payroll is more than $2.2 billion annually. The civilian payroll totals more than $368 million.

Supporting cast

Fort Bragg brings more than soldiers to southeastern North Carolina. More than 19,000 family members live on post. The Army post is one of the big reasons that North Carolina has more than 105,000 Army retirees and family members.

School system

Fort Bragg has a federal school system with nine schools and more than 4,100 students.

Big business

Post exchanges ring up more than $240 million in sales annually. The military grocery, known as a commissary, does more than $106 million in business.

A big player

Fort Bragg has an annual estimated economic impact of almost $7.9 billion on the surrounding 11 counties.

Pope Air Force Base

The Air Force Reserve's 440th Airlift Wing has set up shop at Pope Air Force Base with its C-130H Hercules cargo airplanes. The wing headquarters moved from Milwaukee in 2007.

The base has about 4,000 airmen, a lower number than in recent years with some departures due to base realignment. About 700 civilians work on base.

Active-duty airmen and reservists fly airplanes that belong to the Reserve. The Air Mobility Command's 43rd Airlift Wing has gotten rid of the last of its Vietnam-era E model airplanes.

Fort Bragg is getting ready to take over Pope, which will revert to its World War II role as an Army airfield. All of this is part of the 2005 BRAC mandates that must be carried out by 2011.

Meanwhile, Pope's Green Ramp will continue to be Fort Bragg's airport. Paratroopers and cargo will be loaded onto Air Force airplanes for local training and overseas deployments.

The "battlefield airmen" who work with the Army will stay at Pope. The Combat Control School, 18th Air Support Operations Group and special tactics squadrons will remain at Pope.

Access to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base

All vehicles entering Fort Bragg are subject to search, and most people without military identification can expect guards to search their vehicles.

The main access control point for Fort Bragg is the All American Freeway. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are lanes for cars with decals -- those driven by soldiers, military retirees or Department of Defense employees -- and lanes for cars without decals.

There are four access control points designated for people without decals -- Bragg Boulevard at Knox Street, the All American Freeway, Bragg Boulevard at Randolph Street and Longstreet Road. Drivers of vehicles with no decals must present a driver's license and vehicle registration.