Map of the small U.S. military installations, ranges and training areas in the continental United StatesCountries with United States military bases and facilities
An "installation" is defined as "a military base, camp, post, station, yard, center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, including leased space, that is controlled by, or primarily supports DoD's activities. An installation may consist of one or more sites" (geographically-separated real estate parcels).[1]: DoD-3
The United States operates a global network of military installations and is by far the largest operator of military bases in the world, with locations in dozens of nations on every continent, with 38 "named bases"[note 1] having active-duty, US National Guard, reserve, or civilian personnel as of 30 September 2014. Its largest, in terms of personnel, is Ramstein Air Base, in Germany, with almost 9,200.[1][note 2] Due to the sensitive and often classified nature of this information, there is no comprehensive list with the exact number or location of all bases, stations and installations. The total number of foreign sites with installations and facilities that are either in active use and service, or that may be activated and operated by American military personnel and allies, is just over 1,000.[2]
U.S. officials have been accused of collaborating with oppressive regimes and anti-democratic governments to secure their military bases, from Central America to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.[3] The Democracy Index classifies many of the forty-five current non-democratic U.S. base hosts as fully "authoritarian governments".[3] Military bases in non-democratic states were often rationalized during the Cold War by the U.S. as a necessary if undesirable condition in defending against the communist threat posed by the Soviet Union. Few of these bases have been abandoned since the end of the Cold War.[4]
There are approximately 2,500 U.S. service members in Iraq,[13] spread across several facilities in Iraq and other bases in Iraqi Kurdistan,[14] being used as training bases for Iraqi and Kurdish forces[15] as well as launching operations against targets in Syria.[16]
There were approximately 1,500–2,000 U.S. forces in Syria, spread across 12 different facilities, being used as training bases for Kurdish rebels.[22][23] These soldiers withdrew from Syria to western Iraq in October 2019.[24] Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon was planning to "leave 150 Special Operations forces at a base called al-Tanf", where the United States is training Free Syrian Army rebels.[25] In addition, 200 U.S. soldiers would remain in eastern Syria near the oil fields, to prevent the Islamic State, Syrian government and Russian forces from advancing in the region.[26]
According to the Head of the Syrian Arab Republic delegation to Astana talks the U.S. presence in Syria is "illegal" and "without the consent of (the) government".[27]
United States Army
This is a list of links for U.S. Army forts and installations, organized by U.S. state or territory within the U.S. and by country if overseas. For consistency, major Army National Guard (ARNG) training facilities are included but armory locations are not.[28]
^What are here termed "named bases" are the bases listed in section X: "Personnel Data from DMDC", i.e. excluding that table's rows labelled "Other", in the 2015 DoD Base Structure Report.
^The 2015 U.S. Base Structure Report gives 587 overseas sites, but sites are merely real property at a distinct geographical location, and multiple sites may belong to one installation (page DoD-3). For example, the Garmisch, Germany "named base" with its 72 personnel has eight distinct sites large enough to be listed in the Army's Individual Service Inventory list: Artillery Kaserne, Breitenau Skeet Range, Garmisch Family Housing, Garmish Golf Course, General Abrams Hotel And Disp, Hausberg Ski Area, Oberammergau NATO School, and Sheridan Barracks (listed in Army-15 to Army-17). These range in size from Ramstein AB with 9,188 active, guard/reserve, and civilian personnel down to Worms, which has just one civilian.
References
^ a b"Department of Defense / Base Structure Report / FY 2015 Baseline" (PDF). Retrieved 10 October 2016.
^Chalmers Johnson (January 2004). "America's Empire of Bases". TomDispatch.com.
^ a bChirico 2014, p. 70.
^Vine 2017.
^Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?
^The Naming Commission
^Defense Secretary Austin orders renaming of military bases with Confederate ties
^"The US Military Presence in Australia: Asymmetrical Alliance Cooperation and its Alternatives | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus". apjjf.org.
^"America's military presence is growing in Australia. That might not be a good thing". NewsComAu. 1 October 2016.
^"Title | 2016 Defence White Paper | Department of Defence".
^"United States submarine arrives at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia". 24 April 2022.
^Kopp, Carlo (25 February 2012). "Basing Infrastructure Considerations in the Defence of Australia's Indian Ocean Approaches". Air Power Australia Analyses. IX (1): 1.
^"U.S. Completes Troop-Level Drawdown in Afghanistan, Iraq". 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
^"US to Set Up 5 Military Bases in Iraqi Kurdistan Region". farsnews. 18 July 2016.
^"بالانفوغراف.. تعرف على الجنود والقواعد الامريكية في العراق" (in Arabic). alsumaria. 8 February 2018.
^"Trump' Syria Troop Withdrawal Complicated Plans for al-Baghdadi Raid - The New York Times". The New York Times. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
^"Remarks by President Trump to Troops at Al Asad Air Base, Al Anbar Province, Iraq". whitehouse.gov. 26 December 2018 – via National Archives.
^ a b cMüller-Jung, Friederike (23 November 2016). "US drone war expands to Niger". Deutsche Welle. An additional US base in Arlit, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Agadez, has been operating for about a year, but little is known about it, Moore said, except that special forces are presumably stationed there.
^Taub, Ben (28 January 2018). "Ben Taub on Twitter: "Secret military base near Arlit, Niger, revealed as a white dot in a sea of black, because Western soldiers didn't turn off their Fitbits". Twitter via the Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
^Lewis, David; Bavier, Joe. Boulton, Ralph (ed.). "U.S. deaths in Niger highlight Africa military mission creep". Reuters. In missions run out of a base in the northern Niger town of Arlit and others like the one that led to the ambush of U.S. troops, sources say they have helped local troops and intelligence agents make several arrests.
^Raghavan, Sudarsan; Whitlock, Craig (24 November 2017). "A city in Niger worries a new U.S. drone base will make it a 'magnet' for terrorists". The Washington Post.
^"Russia and U.S. engage in military base race in Syria". defensenews.com. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
^"Anadolu Agency's map of U.S. bases in Syria infuriates The Pentagon". orient-news.net. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
^"US troops leaving Syria will go to Iraq, says Pentagon chief". BBC News. 20 October 2019.
^"Assad Forces Surge Forward in Syria as U.S. Pulls Back". The New York Times. 14 October 2019.
^"Trump Said to Favor Leaving a Few Hundred Troops in Eastern Syria". The New York Times. 20 October 2019.
^"Update-al-Jaafari: We demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of foreign forces from Syrian territory". Syrian Arab News Agency. 22 December 2017.
^"Frequently Asked Questions - Army National Guard".
^DIANE Publishing Company (1 October 1995). Defense Base Closure And Realignment Commission: Report To The President 1995. DIANE Publishing. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-7881-2461-7.
^"DDJC - Sharpe" (PDF). Superfund. Environmental Protection Agency. October 2003. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
^Dawn Bohulano Mabalon (29 May 2013). Little Manila Is in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o American Community in Stockton, California. Duke University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8223-9574-4.
^Carol A. Jensen (2006). Byron Hot Springs. Arcadia Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-7385-4700-8.
^"Historic Posts, Camps, Stations, and Airfields, Tracy Facility, Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin". californiamilitaryhistory.org. The California State Military Museum. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
^"Delaware National Guard 2011 Lottery for the Use of the Bethany Beach Training Site" (PDF). Delaware National Guard. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
^"NATO Headquarters Sarajevo". jfcnaples.nato.int. NATO. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
^Kimmons, Sean (27 November 2017). "Isolated from US military, small Army post looks to rid terrorism in West Africa". Army News Service.
^Vick, Karl; Klein, Aaron J. (30 May 2012). "How a U.S. Radar Station in the Negev Affects a Potential Israel-Iran Clash". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
^"Lithuania opens training camp for US troops in bid to draw Washington's attention". lrt.lt. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
^سورية: مقتل مدني في مدينة أريحا في قصف لقوات النظامغازي عنتابمحمد كركص
^"MCI Camp Mujuk, Republic of Korea". www.mcipac.marines.mil.
^"NSA Annapolis". cnic.navy.mil. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
^"Welcome to Surface Combat Systems Center Wallops Island". cnic.navy.mil. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
^"Naval Support Facility Redzikowo". cnic.navy.mil. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
^"Naval Support Facility Deveselu". cnic.navy.mil. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
^"Singapore Area Coordinator". cnic.navy.mil. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
^"Camp Simba conducts inaugural flag ceremony". usafe.af.mil. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
^Laming, Tim (2000). UK Airports and Airfields. Ramsbury UK: Airlife Publishing (Crowood Press). pp. 106–107. ISBN 1-85310-978-9.
^"The Long Blue Line: GITMO Lighthouse standing the watch for 120 years, still Semper Paratu". www.mycg.uscg.mil. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"Africa Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP) Program". www.africom.mil. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"Activities Far East (FEACT)". www.pacificarea.uscg.mil. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"Activities Europe: Schinnen, The Netherlands". www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"Coast Guard Maritime Infrastructure Protection force - Training Advisory Group (MIPF-TAG) Dammam, Saudi Arabia | USCG Veteran Locator". coastguard.togetherweserved.com. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"Marine Inspection Detachment (MIDET)". www.pacificarea.uscg.mil. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^"US Coast Guard engineer gets stuck into Royal Navy life". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
Chirico, JoAnn (2014). Globalization: Prospects and Problems. SAGE Publication Ltd. p. 71. ISBN 9781483315447.
Vine, David (2017). "How U.S. Military Bases Back Dictators, Autocrats, And Military Regimes". HuffPost.
Sources
"List of U.S. Bases Across the World". militarybases.com.
Further reading
Deppen, Patterson (19 August 2021). "The All-American Base World; 750 U.S. Military Bases Still Remain Around the Planet". TomDispatch. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
Johnson, Chalmers (13 July 2009). "Empire of Bases" (Opinion). The New York Times. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
Johnson, Chalmers (2004). "The Sorrows of Empire: Imperialism, Militarism, and the End of the Republic" (PDF). Asia Papers. Sigur Center Asia Paper Number 19. The George Washington University. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
Vine, David (2015). Base Nation. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 9781627791694. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
Vine, David (2020). The United States of War (Hardcover ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520300873. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military bases of the United States.
Department of Defense, Base Structure Report (PDF) FY 2018 Baseline
