Prime Power officially came to being as the 249th Engineer Battalion in February 1943. Activated 5 May 1943 at Camp Bowie, Texas, they deployed to support 4 major World War II campaigns before returning to Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, to be inactivated in 1945. In 1948, the 249th Engineer Combat Battalion was designated as the 442nd Engineer Construction Battalion, and activated in 1948 in Ames, Iowa to work with the Iowa State Highway Commission for about a year before being inactivated again in 1950. In 1952, the Battalion was renamed the 249th once again, and in 1955 activated in Germany. During most of these formative years, Prime Power served the Army, but not by doing the job that was its purpose. During World War II for example, they served by assisting a bridging unit rather than providing electricity. Fortunately for them, things would soon change to put them back to work doing what they do best.
Camp Century
Two interesting things happened in 1958 that will forever differentiate Prime Power from all of the other struggling specialty units. As part of Prime Power, the US Army Engineer Reactor Group began at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. This group began …show more content…
The true purpose, known as “Project Iceworm”, was uncovered in 1997 when the Danish Institute of International Affairs published a report releasing the details. The intent of the U.S. government was to quietly create a complex system of tunnels to house around six hundred medium range ballistic missiles to aim at Russia in an effort to gain an edge in the Cold War. The end result would have supported a total of around 11,000 Soldiers to maintain the huge complex of missile launchers 28 ft. under the ice of Greenland. The cost of building and maintaining the base was small when compared with the strategic value of the ability to destroy 85% of essential targets within