SAN ANTONIO – The headquarters of two U.S. Army commands will be moving from San Antonio to North Carolina before the end of the year.
The two units, Army North and Army South, are currently based at Fort Sam Houston but will now be merged into a new Western Hemisphere Command, whose headquarters will be at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
This move is expected to happen in the next six to eight weeks.
It is not known how many jobs will be lost, but some elements of the two San Antonio-based commands are expected to remain even after their headquarters move to Fort Bragg.
This consolidation has been in the works for months as part of a broader initiative by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to streamline the armed forces and reduce the number of four-star generals.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones expressed disappointment at the decision but said it might have a minimal impact on the overall Army footprint in San Antonio.
“We await additional details on the actual number of personnel that may be reassigned because of this change. San Antonio is unmatched in our ability to host military missions and families, and we look forward to working with the Department of War and Department of the Army to identify additional missions San Antonio may be able to host,” Jones said.
It was already settled that the two San Antonio-based commands would be combined into a third organization — the Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg. However, until this past Tuesday, it remained undecided where defense officials would locate the headquarters of the new Western Hemisphere Command.
The military remains San Antonio’s largest employer, with more than 86,000 people employed in 2024 — about 7% of the city’s labor force.