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 September 30, 2014. Its largest, in terms of personnel, is Ramstein Air Base, in Germany, with almost 9,200.[1][note 2] The Pentagon stated in 2013 that there are "around" 5,000 bases total, with "around" 600 of them overseas.[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.[3]
U.S. officials have been accused of collaborating with oppressive regimes and anti-democratic governments to secure their military bases, from Central America to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.[4] The Democracy Index classifies many of the forty-five current non-democratic U.S. base hosts as fully "authoritarian governments."[4] Military bases in non-democratic states were often rationalized during the Cold War by the U.S. as a necessary if undesirable necessity 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.[5]
There are approximately 2,500 U.S. service members in Iraq,[14] spread across several facilities in Iraq and other bases in Iraqi Kurdistan,[15] being used as training bases for Iraqi and Kurdish forces[16] as well as launching operations against targets in Syria.[17]
There were approximately 1,500–2,000 U.S. Marine and Special Operations Forces in Syria, spread across 12 different facilities, being used as training bases for Kurdish rebels.[23][24] These soldiers withdrew from Syria to western Iraq in October 2019.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27]
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".[28]
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.[29]
^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.
^ abcMüller-Jung, Friederike (November 23, 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.
^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.
^"DDJC - Sharpe"(PDF). Superfund. Environmental Protection Agency. October 2003. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
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