The Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce estimates Fort Hood brings in 35 billion dollars to the state of Texas every year and 60 percent of that benefits Coryell, Bell and Lampasas counties.
According to Greater Killeen Chamber President John Crutchfield, families of military members stay in the community even when they go on deployment.
"We see them stay in the community because the army wants them to stay in the community so they can support them. We want to stay in the community so we can support them. The side benefit is their payroll stays here and their spending stays here," Crutchfield said.
In addition, they live in the area even after they complete their service.
"Up to 50 percent of the soldiers getting out of Fort Hood, elect to stay in the region," Crutchfield said.
Faye Thomas who owns Gift City in downtown Killeen has seen the impact of the post firsthand.
"In some way [my clients are] connected to Fort Hood. Economically we would not survive without Fort Hood," Thomas said. "The majority of my clientele are veterans. A few are active duty military but I would like to have more military members shopping here.".
Thomas who is an army veteran offers discounts to military members every first and third Saturday to encourage them to shop for beauty supplies, gifts, collectibles, vintage items and antiques.
"It would have an impact, a negative impact to the community if Fort Hood wasn't here. We have a little boom because of Fort Hood," Thomas said.
He added the post been an asset to the community as a whole, bringing colleges, such as Central Texas College and Texas A&M University-Central Texas and impacting transportation.
"Fort Hood is the reason, we now have [interstate 14] here. It's the reason we've been able to get state funding and federal funding to improve our roads and grow our roads," Crutchfield.
Fort Hood has been in Central Texas for 75 years.
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