Hey, I've been wondering how military bases work. Are specific bases designated only for specific branches of the military, or do they all share the same bases?
Hello! Good question. Generally, military bases in the U.S. are usually designated to specific branches of the military - such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, or Space Force. So, for example, Fort Bragg is an Army base, while Naval Station Norfolk is a Navy base. The branch designated to a base implies that it primarily serves personnel from that particular branch.
However, this isn't a hard and fast rule as some bases are classified as "Joint Bases," which serves multiple branches of the military. A Joint Base is the result of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission process, which consolidated several neighboring military installations, run by separate branches, under a single jurisdiction. This consolidation was done to improve efficiency and eliminate redundancy.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, for example, serves both Army and Air Force personnel, while Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia serves both the Army and the Air Force.
So, in summary, while most bases are designated for a single branch, there are many that serve multiple branches.
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