Our Friends: The Military

Although Mission San Antonio was the third California Mission, it was the first built without a presidio (a Spanish fort.) This decision by the founding padres was a conscious effort to facilitate an amicable relationship with the native peoples who lived in the valley around the Mission.

Today, the Mission is surrounded by a military installation, making it the only California Mission protected by a military presence.

Originally obtained by the U.S. Army from the famous philanthropist and newspaper owner, William Randolph Hearst, the land surrounding Mission San Antonio's eighty-six acres is now Fort Hunter Liggett, a U.S. Army Garrison that serves as a Combat Support (CS) and Combat Service Support (CSS) training facility for our Armed Services personnel.

This military presence does more than make Mission San Antonio unique; it is also a guarantee that the beautiful, natural landscape will remain undeveloped and the view shed of the Mission will remain as history remembers for future generations.

Fort Hunter Liggett is the largest installation of the Army Reserve, and the seventh largest installation in the Army. With more than 161,900 acres of un-encroached mountains, valleys, rivers, plains and forests, it provides ideal maneuver areas to meet today's CS and CSS training requirements but also acres and acres of pristine Central California terrain.

Though the base is always active, there are relatively few permanent residents. Most of the groups rotate through the fort for ground support training before deployment. Often, it is the last place they will receive training before deploying overseas. For these soldiers, Mission San Antonio offers a peaceful oasis in the center of their military training obligations. It is a private space where they can safely let their guard down; a place where they can replenish their inner reserves.

In mid- June 2009, a unit commander approached the Mission Administrator with a request to rent out the entire retreat facility (30+ rooms) for the night. His troops had just completed an intense three-week warrior training exercise in the field, during which time they had endured exhaustive heat, choking smoke from nearby wildfires and a lack of sleep due to combat-style accommodations. This unit leader wanted to give his troops one night with the comfort of beds and the peaceful surroundings of the Mission to help them bond into a solid unit. Within a week of that evening, these soldiers deployed to Afghanistan for a year tour of duty. All but two of these brave soldiers returned. The members of this unit still thank the Mission for providing them a special night of serenity before they had to depart for the mayhem of an active war zone.

Mission San Antonio has received several awards of appreciation from various military units, including several military Challenge Coins, given in thanks for the generosity the Mission has provided to the troops. The Challenge Coins, delivered through a handshake, is a traditional Army "thank you" for those who provide special support or services to the unit in a special or noteworthy way. As tradition has it, if the recipient ever finds him or herself in need, presenting the coin to a member of the unit would guarantee help from that person.

Often, the Mission invites the troops to use its Fiesta grounds to enjoy a final party as a unit before shipping out, and docents also give the young men and women historic tours of the facility, which helps spiritually ground them before deployment.

For a Mission originally not intended to have a military presence, the co-existence of Fort Hunter Liggett and Mission San Antonio has been a blessing. The troops are always willing to help Mission San Antonio on their off hours. In March 2009, a group of Marines showed up one day with their Chaplain and asked, "What does the Mission need done?" They then proceeded to send volunteer Marines over a three-week period to work on projects around the Mission. When asked why they were offering to help, they responded, "We're Marines and this is what we're supposed to do – leave a community better than when we arrived."

A future without Mission San Antonio would be a tremendous loss to our troops as well as the larger community. The ties to our historic past and the peaceful serenity of this special site would no longer be available to offer private respite to our soldiers deploying to war, and to the community of visitors that seek the past to help them understand the present and prepare for the future.