The year 1941 brought with it the beginnings of unprecedented change to California's picturesque Central Coast. Once a haven for wild game and cattle grazing, some 86,000 acres of open lands in the Lompoc-Guadalupe-Santa Maria triangle passed to the United States Army, and practically overnight became the site of a huge military encampment called Camp Cooke. As a training center for armored and infantry troops, young recruits assigned to Cooke were forged into combat-ready soldiers and shipped overseas for duty against German and Japanese forces. After the war and a short period of inactivation, the installation was called up again for the Korean War in 1950.
Between the wars and as late as January 1957, the military reservation had reverted to its previous use for cattle and sheep grazing. Transformation of Camp Cooke into the nation's first space and ballistic missile operational and training base began in 1957 when it was transferred to the United States Air Force. In the proceeding year it was renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The installation is about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles, and is presently operated by Air Force Space Command's 30th Space Wing. Vandenberg AFB is the only military base in the United States from which unmanned government and commercial satellites are launched into polar orbit. It is also the only site from which intercontinental ballistic missiles are test fired into the Pacific Ocean, and splash down at the Kwajalein Atoll within the Marshall Islands.
Main
phone numbers: Commercial
(805)606-1110 or DSN 276-1110
Mailing
address: Vandenberg AFB, CA 93437
Population:
3,297 active duty; 174 reservists; 4,144 family
members; 1,226 civilians
Housing: 1,925
family housing units; 217 unaccompanied personnel units;
two-month wait (805)734-1660
Temporary
lodging: 26 temporary lodging units
(805)606-2245; 49 RV spaces at campground (805)606-8579
Family
Support Center: (805)606-0039
Schools: Two
elementary school and one secondary school on base run by
Lompoc school system
Child
Care: Center for 236, two-month wait; 26
approved homes (805)606-1555
Health
care: Clinic. Appointments
(805)606-2273; benefits (805)606-6785; Tricare
(800)242-6788
Vandenberg AFB - California
has a
large size and a mini commissary - (805)605-8812,
a medium exchange, a mall, and one shoppette
(805)734-5521. Recreation at Vandenberg AFB - California
includes arts and crafts, bowling, library, auto hobby,
recreation center, theater, golf, gym, tennis, swimming,
outdoor activities, camping, fishing, and stables.
