Camp Atterbury Visitors Center and Museum

My youngest son, who is a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol recently attended a weeklong encampment at Camp Atterbury in Indiana (about 30 miles south of Indianapolis.) A friend of ours who served in the Army Reserves during the Iraq War and a nephew serving in the National Guard have spend a bit of time there and my son was excited to be able to be there living and learning on a working military base for a few days.

His older brother has been through encampment twice, but this was my first time heading down there for an encampment graduation since another brother of theirs had been performing at Notre Dame on the same day - so dad went one direction and I went the other.

It's interesting getting see the barracks and the PX. After the graduation, we paid a little visit to the Camp Atterbury outdoor museum, which includes a number of military vehicles, and an indoor museum across the street. It's next to the base, but with a separate entrance, so you can easily pull off the road and take a walk to check things out.

If you have kids who enjoy military history and vehicles, it's worth a detour if you are traveling along I-65 through Edinburgh.

The Camp Atterbury Visitors Center and Museum houses a number of interesting artifacts that stretch back to the base's beginnings during World War II. It's free to visit (donations accepted) and the museum is run by eager volunteers who enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences.