Here are the major bases located in the South Carolina:

_Fort Jackson, which sits on 52,000 acres near Columbia, trains nearly half of all soldiers and nearly 70 percent of all women entering the Army. That averages about 55,000 to 65,000 soldiers annually.

_McEntire Air National Guard Station, located near Eastover, has 2,300 acres that can be "blacked out" - allowing Special Operations units to practice stealthy air and ground operations without any landing lights or outside interference. It is also home to the South Carolina's only Air National Guard unit and an Army National Guard helicopter unit, as well as a heavy equipment repair unit.

_Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter is home to three F-16CJ fighter jet squadrons, which flew air patrols in the opening hours of the war against Iraq and now fly anti-terror combat air patrols. The base is home to the 9th Air Force, which oversees air operations for portions of the Middle East and Afghanistan. It also has room for several additional squadrons.

_The Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot at Parris Island turns out about 19,000 new Marines annually. It is the only site where female Marines are trained and has space for additional duties if the service's other training site in San Diego is closed.

_The Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort is home to seven F/A-18 Marine Corps fighter squadrons and two Navy F/A-18 squadrons, one of which is due to be decommissioned later this year.

_Charleston Air Force Base's 54 C-17 transports have moved more than 81,440 tons of cargo and deployed 1,620 people during the past year to support military missions around the globe.

_The Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center at the Naval Weapons Station near Charleston is a high-tech unit that designs, builds, tests, fields and supports front line command-and-control communications gear. It also builds systems to handle battlefield intelligence and surveillance information.

_ The Naval Hospital Beaufort offers general medical, surgical, and emergency services to the active duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel in the region, as well as their families and military retirees. They number about 35,000 individuals.