Traveling Tuesday: Military Bases

Traveling Tuesday: Military Bases

Pixabay/Military Material

My father served in the Army reserves when I was a small child, but I wouldn’t say I come from a military family. And despite having lots of friends who were part of the military and often driving past Fort Meade in Maryland and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, my knowledge of the life is limited, so when I decided to write Dial V for Valentine, I needed to do quite a bit of research. I was surprised at what I discovered and now have a great appreciation for those who serve in the armed forces and their families.

According to one source,1 the U.S. has approximately 750 bases in at least eighty countries. Just in Japan, there are 120 active bases, with 119 in Germany, and seventy-three in Korea. The article goes on to say that the actual number is unknown and probably higher, because the Pentagon doesn’t “release all data.”

Large bases are defined as military installations with an area of more than ten acres or have a value of

Courtesy Fort Meade

more than $10 million. Typically, two hundred or more servicemen and women are stationed at a base of this size. Small bases are called lily pads and with an area of four acres or less. Some bases are branch-specific such as Belvoir and Meade which are both army bases. Others are joint bases such as Joint Base Pearl Harbor – Hickham which houses the Air Force and the Navy. Other bases have specific roles such as boot camps and training centers.

To give you an idea of what a large base encompasses, Fort Meade, which is featured in Dial V for Valentine, consists of 5,400 acres (or approximately 8.5 square miles) with more than sixty-five miles of paved roads and about 1,300 buildings. Fort Belvoir consists of more than 8,600 acres. The smallest active U.S. military base in the U.S. is Ammunition Depot Indian Island in Port Hadlock, Washington, a naval base that is staffed by only a dozen or fewer personnel.

Pixabay/Ken Haines

During basic training, all enlisted service members are required to live in the barracks. When they move to their permanent duty station, only single members are required to live in unaccompanied housing or barracks. During dependent-restricted assignments, non-commissioned and commissioned officers may also be required to live in barracks. Generally, housing is provided for active-duty individuals whether they are living on or off base. Unless designated as key or essential personnel, single officers are authorized to reside off-base. Outside the U.S., officer quarters are usually made available on base.

Have you been part of a military family? Thank you for your service!

About Dial V for Valentine

Valentine’s Day is perfect for a wedding. If only the bride will agree.

Being part of the military is not just a job for Fergus Rafferty, it’s a calling. He’s worked his way up the ranks and doing what he loves best: flying Apache helicopters. The only thing that will make his life complete is marrying Celeste. After he transfers to a unit scheduled to deploy in three months, he’s thrilled at the idea of marrying before he leaves so they can start their new life. Except Celeste wants to wait until he returns. Can he convince her to wed before he leaves?

Celeste Hardwicke has just opened her law practice when she finally accepts Fergus’s marriage proposal. Not to worry. She has plenty of time to set a date, then plan the wedding. Until she doesn’t. But a quickie wedding isn’t what she has in mind. Besides, why get married when the groom will ship out after the ceremony? When she stumbles on her great-grandmother’s diary from World War II, she discovers the two of them share the same predicament.

At an impasse, Celeste and Fergus agree to call into WDES’s program No Errin’ for Love. Will DJ Erin Orberg’s advice solve their dilemma or create a bigger divide? One they’ll both regret.

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1 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive