Infantry Battalion. The post was also used as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the conflict, holding 4,000 Japanese and German POWs. Fort McCoy's POWs were featured in the 2011 film Fort McCoy. The camp was briefly deactivated following World War II, but with the advent of the Korean War in 1950, it was once again used for training. This continued until 1953, when the camp was again deactivated. It was then used to house various small national, state and civilian projects, and served as a training center for the Army Reserves, the National Guard, and the Job Corps. In 1973, the Army reactivated Camp McCoy as a permanent training center, and on September 30, 1974, it was officially re-designated as Fort McCoy. In the 1990s, a second major construction project was undertaken, costing about $140 million. Today, Fort McCoy serves as a Total Force Training Center. More than 100,000 members of the military are trained at the fort every year, and the total number has exceeded 149,000 in the past. After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, Fort McCoy hosted one of the largest populations of Afghan evacuees with over 12,600 as of October 2021. The 181st Infantry Brigade is the largest unit stationed at Fort McCoy. The brigade is responsible for training selected U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard units in the Central-Northern United States to support contingency operations in the Global War on Terror. Deployments Fort McCoy was used as a mobilization station during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. This was the first time units had mobilized at Fort McCoy since the Korean War. Seventy-four military units deployed through Fort McCoy, totaling more than 9,000 Soldiers, 8% of the reserve forces activated during the Persian Gulf War. Volk Field Air National Guard Base was used as the primary point of departure. In addition, more than 3,000 pieces of equipment were deployed from Fort McCoy by train. The 769th Engineer Battalion and the 927th Engineer Company (Sapper) of the 225th Engineer Brigade of the Louisiana Army National Guard mobilized for deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009. The 890th Engineer Battalion of the Mississippi Army National Guard conducted Mobilization training at McCoy from April to June 2008 before deploying to Iraq. The 194th Engineer Brigade mobilized from Fort McCoy to Iraq in 2009 and 190th Engineer Company mobilized to Afghanistan