# Is the US the only country to have military bases in other countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412 "2007-11-22T08:17:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/1 "2007-11-22T08:17:22Z")
I’m just curious if the US is the only country to have military bases all over the world in other countries. I know, for example, France may have bases in many places around the globe, but they also have territory that is quite far from the Metropole. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/2 "2007-11-22T08:24:42Z")
The British Army have military bases in Germany. They also have two Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus. More info [here.](http://www.army.mod.uk/deployments/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/3 "2007-11-22T09:02:52Z")
Britain also has small garrisons in Belize and Brunei. Training facilities are maintained in Canada and Kenya. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/4 "2007-11-22T11:25:28Z")
The Russians apparently still have naval forces based in Vietnam and Syria. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/5 "2007-11-22T11:39:08Z")
The UN has “peacekeepers” all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/6 "2007-11-22T12:02:49Z")
According to the [State Department](http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3842.htm), France maintains permanent military bases in Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Senega, and Chad, which are all independent countries and not overseas departments. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/7 "2007-11-22T12:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=Keeve] The UN has “peacekeepers” all over the world. [/QUOTE] Yes, but those are not part of a UN army, but temporary loans from different countries and they don’t have permanent bases either. The whole idea is that they should be as temporary as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/8 "2007-11-22T12:11:22Z")
Half the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Skyhawk aircraft used to be based in Australia, back when they (the RNZAF) actually had jet fighters… ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/9 "2007-11-22T12:35:43Z")
The Germans have a military base in the middle of Fort Bliss (or is it Huachuca) for missile training. ---
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/10 "2007-11-22T13:45:34Z")
> [@](#): > > According to the State Department, France maintains permanent military bases in Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Senega, and Chad, which are all independent countries and not overseas departments. Just to be clear, I didn’t mean to say that I thought France didn’t have bases outside of France, but that France has the luxury of having territories all around the world where they could put bases, so they may not have bases that are technically outside of “France” even though most people don’t think of those places as France (La Reunion, Guadaloupe, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/11 "2007-11-22T13:51:57Z")
India has an airforce base in Farkhor,Tajikistan. indian ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/12 "2007-11-22T22:00:59Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] The Germans have a military base in the middle of Fort Bliss (or is it Huachuca) for missile training. [/QUOTE] The German military has a unit based there. AFAIK, it is not a German military base but rather a US base with a German military tenant unit. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/13 "2007-11-22T22:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] The Russians apparently still have naval forces based in Vietnam and Syria. [/QUOTE] They also have a [bunch o’ bases](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_military_bases_in_CIS) in the former Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/14 "2007-11-22T23:19:34Z")
Until 1994, Canada had military bases in Germany (Baden-Soellingen and Lahr, closed one year apart). The decision to close them wasn’t well received by everyone; the reasons were largely financial. Parts are being used by Germans for commercial purposes, the rest have fallen into ruin. - **mnemosyne** , CFB Lahr, 1990-1993 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/15 "2007-11-23T03:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] The German military has a unit based there. AFAIK, it is not a German military base but rather a US base with a German military tenant unit. [/QUOTE] They used to have a neato gate in German national colors, a German flag with no US flag, a German housing area and all the rest. It may have changed but the German ADA at one point had a base in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/16 "2007-11-23T04:18:35Z")
I’m fairly certain you’re misremembering some of that, Paul. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/17 "2007-11-23T05:51:55Z")
When i was in high school in the early 1980s, the Royal Australian Air Force had a base in Penang, Malaysia. One of my schoolfriend’s parents were school teachers, and they did a three-year stint teaching the base kids. Looking on Wiki, i see that the RAAF base was closed in 1988, and was taken over by the Royal Malaysian Air Foce, but the RAAF still maintains a small presence there. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/18 "2007-11-23T07:44:19Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] I’m fairly certain you’re misremembering some of that, Paul. [/QUOTE] You may be right, I may be wrong. I posted an enquiry on a military board. I will be back to gloat if I get confirmation. (The Germans also had a missile range somewhere in Africa with a kick-butt SOFA, but it was for their civilian rocket program. This was before the ESA.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/19 "2007-11-23T12:37:30Z")
[Singapore has several air force training detachments overseas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Singapore_Air_Force), in the US, UK, Australia, France and India. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412/20 "2007-11-23T12:41:02Z")
[Here](http://f3.webmart.de/f.cfm?id=2078181&sr=76&r=threadview&a=1&t=3213635) are some recent photos of German military facilities at Fort Bliss, Texas. It does not address the OP, but were just slightly too neat not to post. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-the-only-country-to-have-military-bases-in-other-countries/427412.md?page=2)