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- What Makes a Military Base “Strange”?
- A 2019 Snapshot of Military Base Locations
- 8 Strange Military Bases and Why Their Locations Matter
- 1) Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base), Greenland
- 2) Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Colorado
- 3) Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory
- 4) U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
- 5) Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti
- 6) Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
- 7) Fort Greely, Alaska
- 8) Eareckson Air Station / Shemya Island, Alaska (with COBRA DANE radar mission)
- Why These Strange Base Locations Existed in 2019
- Experience Add-On: What These Strange Bases Feel Like (500+ Words)
- Final Takeaway
- SEO Tags
Some military bases are exactly what you’d expect: large, busy, and planted near major cities. Others look like they were picked by a cartographer with a flair for dramaan atoll in the Indian Ocean, a mountain bunker in Colorado, a frozen outpost in Greenland, or a wind-lashed island near the edge of the Aleutians. This article takes a 2019-focused snapshot of strange military base locations and explains why these places exist, what they do, and why they still matter.
To keep things grounded in real-world facts (and not conspiracy-forum fan fiction), this piece synthesizes information from official U.S. military and government sources, plus reputable U.S. reference sources. It also notes when a base name changed after 2019because military naming conventions love a refresh almost as much as they love acronyms.
What Makes a Military Base “Strange”?
“Strange” doesn’t mean secret aliens, underground lizard parliaments, or a cafeteria menu nobody can identify (although military food can be mysterious). In this context, a strange military base usually has one or more of these traits:
- Extreme geography: Arctic ice, remote coral atolls, isolated volcanic islands, or mountain interiors.
- Unusual purpose: missile warning, treaty monitoring, alternate command centers, or strategic logistics hubs.
- Political complexity: locations shaped by treaties, bilateral agreements, and long-term basing rights.
- Tiny communities: places where “going out” might mean walking three minutes to the only coffee shop on the island.
If you’re searching for military base locations 2019, the key point is this: by 2019, the U.S. military footprint included a mix of familiar domestic installations and highly unusual locations overseas, many tied to missile defense, global logistics, and strategic access.
A 2019 Snapshot of Military Base Locations
The Department of Defense’s base structure reporting framework is the best place to anchor a 2019 discussion because it catalogs installations and sites as part of an annual inventory process. In plain English: the Pentagon keeps a giant property-and-installation ledger, and 2019 is one of the snapshots in that timeline.
That matters because a lot of “strange military bases” articles mash together active bases, former bases, legends, and movie plots. This article sticks to real places with real missions and a clear connection to the U.S. military footprint around 2019.
8 Strange Military Bases and Why Their Locations Matter
1) Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base), Greenland
In 2019, this base was known as Thule Air Base. Today, it is called Pituffik Space Base. The name changed, but the “wow, that is extremely far north” factor did not. The base sits in northwestern Greenland and is one of the most unusual U.S. military locations on the map.
Why is it there? Geography. Its Arctic position makes it valuable for missile warning, space surveillance, and polar coverage. This is not a place you build because the weather is nice. You build it because the Earth is round, the Arctic matters strategically, and a northern vantage point provides important coverage.
The base is a classic example of how strange military base locations are often less about mystery and more about math: radar arcs, flight paths, and orbital realities. In 2019, Thule represented the kind of installation that looks wild on a travel map but perfectly logical on a defense planner’s map.
2) Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Colorado
Cheyenne Mountain is strange in the best way: part mountain, part command facility, part Cold War icon. If a normal base is a campus, this one is basically a hardened operations center inside granite. That alone earns it a top spot on any list of unusual military bases.
The location near Colorado Springs supports its role as an alternate command center associated with NORAD and U.S. Northern Command operations. Historically, it was built for survivabilityhence the famous mountain interior. In 2019, it remained relevant not as a museum piece, but as an active component of defense infrastructure and training.
Cheyenne Mountain also shows that “strange” doesn’t always mean remote. Sometimes it means a base is physically unique. Most military facilities don’t require a mountain as their shell. This one does, and that tells you everything about the era and mission that shaped it.
3) Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory
Diego Garcia is one of the most distinctive overseas military bases in the world. It sits on a coral atoll in the Indian Ocean, far from the continental United States and far from most people’s mental map of “where U.S. bases usually are.”
The location is strategically valuable because it supports long-range logistics, maritime operations, and regional military access. In simple terms, Diego Garcia is a very remote dot that becomes extremely important once you start thinking in global distances instead of road-trip distances.
Another reason Diego Garcia feels strange is daily life. It’s isolated, tightly controlled, and heavily shaped by the island environment. Transportation is limited, the community is small, and the natural setting (reef, lagoon, tropical conditions) makes it look like a postcarduntil you remember it is a military installation, not a resort.
4) U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands
Kwajalein Atoll is the kind of place that makes people ask, “Wait, there’s a major U.S. military mission there?” Yes. And it plays a serious role. U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll supports the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, which is a huge part of why this location matters.
What makes Kwajalein strange is the contrast: tropical island setting, small community life, and high-end missile defense testing responsibilities. It is both a tiny island environment and a major strategic test range. That combination is rare.
Official Army descriptions also emphasize that Kwajalein is geographically isolated. That isolation shapes everythingfrom housing and schools to logistics and morale. In 2019, Kwajalein stood out as a base where advanced defense testing and island living share the same ZIP code (figuratively speaking, because many of these places barely feel like they use normal ZIP logic).
5) Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti
Camp Lemonnier is one of those bases that seems improbable until you understand the region. Located in Djibouti, it is a key U.S. military installation on the African continent and supports a wide range of operations through its access to an airfield and nearby seaport.
The location is strange to many U.S. readers simply because it is not commonly discussed in everyday media. But strategically, it makes sense. Djibouti sits near major maritime routes and sits at a crossroads for operations affecting East Africa, the Red Sea, and the broader region.
In a 2019 military base location discussion, Camp Lemonnier is essential because it illustrates a broader pattern: many of the most important bases are not the biggest or most famous. They are the ones positioned exactly where access, reach, and logistics matter most.
6) Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Guantanamo Bay is one of the most debated and historically layered U.S. military locations. Even people who know little about military basing usually recognize the name. But beyond headlines, the base is also a textbook example of a strategically unusual location with a long legal and diplomatic history.
It sits on the southeast corner of Cuba and has been used by maritime powers for centuries due to its geographic advantages. The U.S. lease arrangement dates back to the early 1900s, which is one reason Guantanamo remains such a distinctive case in discussions of military base locations.
From a purely geographic and infrastructure perspective, it is a base defined by endurance. It has operated through major political changes, shifting U.S.-Cuba relations, and changing military priorities. Strange? Absolutely. Accidental? Not at all.
7) Fort Greely, Alaska
Fort Greely looks like exactly what you’d expect from an Alaskan military installation: remote, cold, and strategically serious. It is a key location for homeland missile defense, and that role is what puts it on this list.
The base supports missile defense operations in a part of the world where geography again does the heavy lifting. Alaska’s location makes it crucial for tracking and intercept scenarios tied to long-range missile threats. It also means personnel deal with extreme weather, distance, and a very different lifestyle than troops stationed at more conventional installations.
If Cheyenne Mountain is “strange” because it is inside a mountain, Fort Greely is “strange” because it is where the U.S. military puts some of its most serious missile defense capability in a harsh environment that most civilians will never experience up close.
8) Eareckson Air Station / Shemya Island, Alaska (with COBRA DANE radar mission)
Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island is the kind of base location that sounds made up by a novelist trying too hard. It is real, and it is remote. Shemya sits in the Aleutians, far out in Alaska’s island chain, where weather can be brutal and isolation is part of daily life.
This site is especially notable because the COBRA DANE radar mission is tied to the area, supporting ballistic missile and space surveillance functions. That gives the location major strategic value despite its small footprint and punishing conditions.
Eareckson is a perfect example of why “strange military base” is often a compliment. It means the base exists in a place most people would avoid building anythingunless national defense needs made it necessary.
Why These Strange Base Locations Existed in 2019
The short answer: strategy beats comfort. In 2019, the U.S. military basing posture reflected decades of treaty arrangements, Cold War legacy infrastructure, missile defense priorities, and global logistics planning. A base is not placed where life is easiest; it is placed where missions are easiest to execute.
Here are the big drivers:
- Missile defense and warning: Arctic and Pacific locations offer valuable geometry for radar and interception systems.
- Global reach: Bases like Diego Garcia and Camp Lemonnier support operations far from the U.S. mainland.
- Redundancy and resilience: Facilities like Cheyenne Mountain exist because alternate command capability matters.
- Legal and diplomatic agreements: Long-term access often depends on bilateral agreements, leases, and host-nation arrangements.
That’s also why a 2019 military base locations article should avoid the “weird for weirdness’ sake” trap. These places are unusual, yesbut mostly because they solve very specific defense problems.
Experience Add-On: What These Strange Bases Feel Like (500+ Words)
If you want to understand strange military bases, don’t start with a map. Start with a morning routine.
Imagine waking up on a remote atoll like Diego Garcia or Kwajalein. The first thing you notice is the environment: the air feels different, the horizon looks wider, and the base perimeter seems to blend into ocean, reef, or jungle. There is no “city outside the gate” in the way many people picture military life. The base is the town. The town is the base. If you forget toothpaste, your options are not “quick stop at the nearest store.” Your options are “whatever the base has today.”
Now picture a place like Fort Greely or Eareckson Air Station. Same concept, opposite climate. The environment is no longer tropical and brightit’s cold, windy, and demanding. The landscape feels huge, but your world feels compact because daily life happens within a tight operational footprint. People learn quickly that weather is not a background detail; it is a scheduling authority. Flights, maintenance, travel plans, and routine tasks all answer to the sky.
At Cheyenne Mountain, the experience flips again. The strange part is not distance from civilization but the facility itself. There is something psychologically different about working in a hardened, historic command environment associated with Cold War continuity and national defense planning. Even if daily operations are modern, the setting reminds you that this place was designed for scenarios nobody ever wanted to happen. It feels less like a typical base and more like stepping into a living chapter of defense history.
Then there is the social side. Strange bases create unusual communities. On small or isolated installations, people rely on each other more because there is less separation between work life and general life. The person you see in uniform in the morning may be the same person you see at the gym, the dining facility, or the one recreation spot everyone shares. Communities become close because they have to. Isolation can be difficult, but it also builds a strong “we’re all in this together” culture.
Time also feels different on remote bases. In major cities, days are marked by traffic, appointments, and endless options. On isolated military installations, time is often marked by weather windows, supply arrivals, mission cycles, and communication with family across time zones. The rhythm is more operational. You become very aware of how far you are from “normal” lifeand also how organized daily life must be to keep the mission running smoothly.
One of the most interesting parts of these bases is how they change your idea of geography. Before reading about them, “Greenland,” “Djibouti,” “Aleutians,” or “Marshall Islands” may feel like trivia answers. After learning what these bases do, those names become strategic landmarks. You begin to see why military planners care about sea lanes, radar horizons, polar routes, and island runways. A place that seems random on a vacation map can be absolutely central on a defense map.
And that’s really the shared experience of strange military bases: they force you to think beyond the familiar. They show how national defense depends on people doing routine work in extraordinary places. Some are surrounded by coral and tropical heat. Some are wrapped in granite. Some sit in ice and darkness. But they all have the same core reality: a mission has to happen, and someone has to live and work where that mission works best.
So yes, these bases are strange. But they are also practical, purposeful, and surprisingly human. Behind every radar system, runway, or hardened command center is a community learning how to make life function in a place most people will only ever see on a map.
Final Takeaway
Strange Military Bases – Military Base Locations 2019 is really a story about strategy, geography, and adaptation. The U.S. military footprint in and around 2019 included some truly unusual locationsnot because planners were chasing dramatic scenery, but because those locations enabled missile defense, command resilience, logistics, and regional access.
From Greenland to Djibouti, from a Colorado mountain complex to a coral atoll in the Indian Ocean, these installations prove a simple point: the most important bases are often the ones that look the strangest on a civilian map.
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