Military base

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A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by and/or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations.

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In the United States, they are usually extra-legal jurisdictions not subject to civil law. They can range from small outposts to military cities containing up to 100,000 people. Some military bases may belong to a different nation or state than the territory surrounding it.

A military base may go by any of a number of names such as

The name used generally refers to the type of military activity that takes place at the base.

Depending on the context, the term 'military base' may refer to any establishment (usually permanent) that houses a nation's armed forces, or even organized paramilitary forces such as the Police, Constabulary, Militia, or Guards; or the term may refer solely to an establishment which is used only by an army (or possibly other land fighting related forces, such as marines) to the exclusion of a base used by either an air force or a navy. This is consistent with the different meanings of the word 'military'. Some examples of permanent military bases used by the navies and air forces of the world are the Royal Dockyards in Portsmouth, UK, the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island,Washington State, USA or Ramstein Air Base, Germany. For some examples of non or semi permanent military bases, look at terms like, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Logistics Base (Log base) or Fire Base (FB).

A military base may also contain large concentrations of military supplies in order to support military logistics. Most military bases are restricted to the general public, and usually only authorized personnel may enter them (be it military personnel or their relatives, and authorized civilian personnel). Military bases usually provide housing, training, range, operations and dining facilities, Most also provide support facilities such as, fast food restaurants, churches, schools, hospitals, clinics, libraries, shopping and convenience retail stores such as an "Exchange" (BX/PX). There may also be Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities like theaters, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Burger King, gymnasiums, athletic fields, golf courses, automotive work shops, hobby centers, parks, stables, camp grounds, etc.

In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a command center, a training ground, or a proving ground. In most cases, a military base relies on some outside help in order to operate. However, certain complex bases are able to endure by themselves for long periods because they are able to provide food, water and other life support necessities for their inhabitants while under siege.

Civilian services offered to soldiers outside a military base
Civilian services offered to soldiers outside a military base

Military bases are often important to the local community by providing jobs and revenue, a sense of identity or association and even a place in history that reaches far beyond the community itself. Sometimes even becoming part of the language as in the phrase “Built like Fort Knox”, although this phrase actually refers to the United States Bullion Depository located at that U.S. Army base.

In the 18th and 19th Centuries the Royal Engineers were largely responsible for erecting military bases in the British Isles and the British Empire. In 1792 the Chief Engineer was instructed to prepare the Barrack Construction estimates for Parliament and at the same time the Department of the Barrackmaster-General was established.

During the period from the 1840s through the 1860s barracks were constructed under supervision of the Royal Engineers in:

The Cardwell Reforms (1872) ushered in another period of intensive Barrack building at Aldershot, Portsmouth, Plymouth, London, Woking, Woolwich, Dublin, Belfast, Malta, Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1959 the Corps' Work Services was transferred to the civilian War Department Works Organization (later renamed Property Services Agency (PSA)) and by 1965 the (Specialist Teams Royal Engineers (STRE)) were formed to plan and execute Works projects worldwide.

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