Camp Shelby. Where Military History Meets Community Access

Want to see what military readiness looks like up close, not just in headlines? We sit across from Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Adcock at historic Camp Shelby and open the gates—literally—to the nation’s largest National Guard training site. From leadership changes to museum tours and safety tips on active roads, this conversation maps the full experience of a post that trains more than 100,000 people a year and still welcomes the public with a simple ID at the gate.

We walk through concrete dates and details: a ribbon cutting at the MATES facility, a farewell breakfast, and a change of command that brings in Colonel Ashley Sullivan. These milestones aren’t just ceremony; they show how transparent leadership and community ties keep a complex installation grounded. If you’re planning a trip, you’ll get practical guidance on timing, access, and what to see first, including the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum’s rotating exhibits and the oldest structure on post—an original ammunition storage facility that tracks how safety and logistics evolved.

The scale is staggering—about 150,000 acres, often compared to five or six Disney Worlds—yet the tone is personal and focused. Multiple branches, law enforcement partners, and federal teams train side by side, and visitors can witness that ecosystem at work. Thinking about service or the Guard? Adcock, a former Recruiting and Retention Battalion commander, cuts through second-hand myths and lays out why a direct conversation with a recruiter is the smartest first step, whether your journey leads to the Mississippi National Guard or another path entirely.

Come for the history, stay for the perspective. You’ll leave with a clearer sense of how training, leadership, and community fit together at Camp Shelby—and how an open-post policy turns curiosity into understanding. If the story resonates, follow the show, share this episode with a friend who loves military history, and leave a quick review to help more people find it.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome From Camp Shelby
• 0:32 Introducing Lt. Col. Adcock
• 1:15 Key Dates And Command Change
• 2:47 What Makes Camp Shelby Unique
• 4:17 Visiting The Post And Museum
• 6:06 Safety And On-Post Etiquette
• 7:18 Preserving History And Facilities
• 9:06 Advice On Joining The Guard
• 10:30 Invitation To Visit And Closing

Transcript

Jerry Allhands: 0:02

This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast. I'm your host, Jerry Allhands, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army. On each episode, we will visit with veterans and hear their stories and experiences. This week, we recently attended the American Legion Department of Mississippi's Midwinter Conference in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. We are at Camp Shelby today, historic Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And we're at the Midwinter Conference for the American Legion, the 106th Midwinter Conference. And I have the distinct pleasure of sitting across from Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Adcock. A pleasure to have you here today, sir.

LTC Andrew Adcock: 0:39

Thanks, Jerry, for having us.

Jerry Allhands: 0:40

Thank you. Thank you. Uh you just spoke with the uh the members of the American Legion. And uh now, if I understand correctly, you're a paid up for life member. Uh absolutely. All right. How long have you been with the Legion?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 0:50

Uh only a few years now.

Jerry Allhands: 0:52

Okay. All right. Have we got you into every position we could possibly get you into?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 0:58

Something tells me after today I will be.

Jerry Allhands: 1:01

Chief Bottle Washer is the title I still got. 27 years plus. Fair. Yeah. Uh Colonel, the uh wanna want to say thank you so much for for walking us here today. Uh you gave some some some dates of some events coming up. If you'd like to share those with us again.

LTC Andrew Adcock: 1:15

Sure, Jerry. Well, I guess first and foremost, uh, yeah, my name is Lieutenant Colonel Adcock. I'm the executive officer, deputy commander here at Camp Shelby. Uh and yes, I I wanted to share with with your members uh some key dates of things happening at Camp Shelby because we pride ourselves on our community involvement here at Camp Shelby and welcoming uh everyone to the installation. So, first, on Monday, January 26th, uh we will be conducting a ribbon cutting uh for our mates facility. Uh time to be announced on our Camp Shelby Facebook page. Additionally, we will have two other events the first week of February, February 5th and 6th, respectively. One is a farewell breakfast for our outgoing installation commander on that Thursday at 8 o'clock at our post club. And then on Friday, February 6th at 10 o'clock AM, we'll actually conduct a change of command for Camp Shelby installation proper. Our current commander, Colonel Lee Henry, uh will be leaving us and moving up to the Joint Force headquarters in Jackson uh after a tour of just over three years here. And we will welcome in a uh career army aviator, the Mississippi Army National Guard by the name of Colonel Ashley Sullivan uh as the installation commander that day.

Jerry Allhands: 2:42

Awesome, awesome. Um if you don't mind, can I ask a little bit about your military background?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 2:47

Uh sure. Um I am uh uh a uh I come from a lineage of of military members, mom, dad, and everybody in between, uh all army, all the way. Um so uh my decision to to join the Army uh was pretty easy. Um I joined about 20 years ago through Army ROTC at the University of Alabama, and the rest is history.

Jerry Allhands: 3:13

Oh great history, though.

LTC Andrew Adcock: 3:14

Great, great history and uh proud to kind of carry it on. Um especially proud to be here at Camp Shelby. I've been here about a year uh in this role.

Jerry Allhands: 3:24

All right. Uh can you tell our listeners a little bit about Camp Shelby?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 3:27

Sure. So Camp Shelby, uh as many of you may know, listening, uh, is the largest uh National Guard training site uh in the U.S. Uh so along with that uh comes a lot. Uh first and foremost, we have a throughput, a training audience, if you will, annually of just over a hundred thousand here at Camp Shelby. So a very, very busy place uh throughout the year. Uh we train every branch of the military uh along with law enforcement uh and federal partners at all levels. Um on any given day, uh it would not be uncommon to see a member from almost every branch of the military training or doing something here at Camp Shelby year-round. Additionally, and I think this comes as a shocker to many people, the size of Camp Shelby. Camp Shelby, acreage-wise, approximately 150,000 acres. What does that equate to? Well, that equates to somewhere between five and six Disney Worlds here at Camp Shelby. Um so a very, very large training installation, and and we believe that that is one of the reasons we get chosen and selected by training partners to train here because of the size and the availability uh of options here at Camp Shelby.

Jerry Allhands: 4:55

If somebody wanted to come and visit Camp Shelby, let's say uh a military veteran or even a civilian, uh, how would they go about doing that? Is there a requirement to get on the post?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 5:04

So we are what you would call an open post. We welcome the public. Uh our commander, uh uh, you will often hear him saying that that this is the taxpayer's installation, uh, welcoming all to come on post. So, yes, that we do uh have some security screening at our front gate, but uh a driver's license or a military ID uh can get you through that. Um, particularly of interest to the public, maybe to visit our Mississippi Armed Forces Museum here, uh, which is open throughout the week uh and and brings in a significant number of visitors to the area.

Jerry Allhands: 5:43

How long would it take someone to visit the museum?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 5:46

So to the to the museum, I would I would say allow allow yourself a little time to get through the gate and security, about 10 to 20 minutes to get through that. The museum can be done in as short as 30 minutes or preferably approximately two hours.

Jerry Allhands: 6:00

I've done both. Enjoyed the enjoyed the visit over there. Matter of fact, I plan on going back again here real soon. I understand there's been some changes and updates to the museum.

LTC Andrew Adcock: 6:09

So, yeah, so the museum um really it it's a one-of-a-kind in the state, focusing on the military history of the great state of Mississippi. So, unlike some museums that may incorporate uh other components, we really focus on the Mississippi experience in the museum. I say all that to say we rotate exhibits periodically. We actually have more exhibits and storage than we have space. So we hope in the future to be able to expand the museum uh uh to be able to incorporate all those exhibits.

Jerry Allhands: 6:45

Is there a cost to uh visit the museum?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 6:48

The museum is free, and and I would go on to also say uh that the museum actually also conducts group tours. So if there's a desire uh for a school group, church group, veteran group to come and visit the museum, reach out. Um they have a they have a robust web page uh Facebook offering of that nature and set up a group tour.

Jerry Allhands: 7:10

By chance, do you know the website address?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 7:12

They could just simply in their search bar, they could just search Mississippi Armed Forces Museum, and it'll come right up.

Jerry Allhands: 7:19

Oh, easy enough. All right. Um former military police with the Air Force myself, Army 82nd Airborne after that. Of course, the Air Force is not military police, it was security police, security forces. You're on the post here. Uh you're driving your car. Any suggestions to a civilian or somebody who's in the military that just may have a kind of a heavy foot?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 7:41

Yeah, so I would say post wide, uh uh generally speaking, our our speed limit is 35, but that does drop down uh significantly, especially if troops are present on the road space. So uh uh I always tell people uh uh pay attention to the speed, um, but also don't assume uh that the military member, whether they're on foot or in a vehicle, can see you.

Jerry Allhands: 8:07

So your car may be camouflaged just like they are. Correct. All right, sir. Um the static display outside of the museum is incredible. I've enjoyed that many times. Uh is that in the future going to be changed or is that gonna continue in this in the shape that it's in?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 8:23

Right now it's continuing in the shape that it's in. Um earlier this past year, uh we did do a ribbon cutting on a historic facility on Camp Shelby. Uh it was actually an ammunition storage facility. It's the oldest structure here on Camp Shelby, it's directly behind the museum. So I always tell tell people if you want to see where Camp Shelby kind of came from in some regard, go by, take a look at that facility, look at how ammunition, munitions, if you will, were stored back in the day. Uh, and then you can look at what it is now uh and really draw draw some thoughts.

Jerry Allhands: 9:02

Kind of make you a little scared sometimes, huh? Perhaps. I've seen a few things. Uh sir, if there's a young person uh listening to us today and they're contemplating joining the Army, the Army Guard, what would you say to them today?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 9:17

I would say you don't know until you talk to someone. Uh before uh being selected for this position at Camp Shelby, I was the uh commander of the recruiting and retention battalion for the Mississippi National Guard. And as I would go around the state through the years and and I would talk to young people, um we started with that. And we we often got to have you talked to somebody about actually serving? Uh and you'd be surprised how many people were drawing information off of second and third hand sources uh and really benefited from talking to a recruiter um about service. Uh and that service could be in any branch of the military, in any component. Uh of course, we here in the Mississippi National Guard are obviously we are going to recommend the Mississippi National Guard, but we also know that's not for everyone. And so our recruiting teams are very honest uh uh uh with those inquiring about what that service entails. Uh and to be honest with you, uh surprise most people when they find out the benefits and the resources that come from military service.

Jerry Allhands: 10:30

If you had final words to say to any of our listeners today, what would you share with us?

LTC Andrew Adcock: 10:35

Come visit Camp Shelby. Come visit Camp Shelby You can only see a fraction of the post about what we have on social media and sometimes when we're featured on the news. Come to Camp Shelby. Experience not only the history of the location, but the people. And I think when you leave, you will feel good about the state of both our state and nation when it comes to national security and where we are headed.

Jerry Allhands: 11:10

Thank you. Colonel, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much for being here today. Um thank you for joining the American Legion. I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to working with you for many years to come.

LTC Andrew Adcock: 11:19

Thanks, Jerry. Great to be with you. Have a good day, sir. Thank you.

Jerry Allhands: 11:22

Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Veterans Sound Off Podcast with Jerry Allhands. It's a production of A llhands Media, LLC, All Rights Reserved.