From Alaska to Hainan Island, These Are the 30 Strangest Military Bases Around the World

From Alaska to Hainan Island, These Are the 30 Strangest Military Bases Around the World

From hazardous mountaintop forts to impenetrable underground bunkers, these are the most fascinating facilities on the planet.

Eareckson Air Station

Location: Shemya, Aleutian IslandsBackground: Once a ballistic missile radar home in the 1970s, the outdated system is still in use, while the airstrip serves as an active emergency landing zone.How It’s Unique: The location—1,200 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, and only 200 miles east of Russia on the island of Shemya in the Aleutians—gives this desolate location some intrigue. It’s also used as a refueling station and emergency runway.PLUS: The Army Found a Way to Keep Your Hands Warm Without Gloves

Kwajalein Atoll

Location: Marshall Islands Background: One of the largest coral atolls in the world, the United States placed a base there during World War II.How It’s Unique: Apart from the massive amounts of coral, missiles make up another major portion of this Pacific atoll. The Kwajalein Atoll offers a test site for radars, tracking devices, missile launchers and plenty of other technology. Notably, SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll.The U.S. leases 11 of the 97 small islands that make up the atoll and surround a central lagoon perfectly suited for reentry of airborne items. The out-of-the-way site helps with plenty of testing of all sorts free of ship and radio traffic. It’s also currently the site of the “space fence,” a radar array designed to spot and track space junk and small satellites.

Fort Detrick

Location: Frederick, MarylandBackground: What started as Camp Detrick in the 1940s quickly turned into a long-standing home for the U.S. military.How It’s Unique: Farms in Maryland joined together as Fort Detrick, the site of the United States’ biological weapons program, meaning the 1942 creation of this program, developed soon after the Pearl Harbor attack, was home to some wild experiments of biological toxins and plenty of other things we simply don’t want to know about. Using creations from the scientists at the fort, the U.S. Navy ran six experiential attacks on San Francisco, sending ships just off the shore of the U.S. city to release stimulants into the air. Once the warfare program ended in 1969, the site turned into the home of the U.S. biological defense program.

Olavsvern Naval Base

Location: NorwayBackground: Originally constructed as a Cold War naval base, Norway sold the site and eventually leased it to the Russians, who now use the space for “research.” (Now the U.S. Navy wants a piece of it.)How It’s Unique: Along with the Norway-versus-Russia backstory that started the site, which has flipped to Russia now operating ships and planes within Norway, the location itself offers quite a site. Chiseled into mountains, the base includes buildings, bombproof areas within the earth, and docks aplenty.Check This Out: Russia Says Its New Body Armor Will Stop .50-Caliber Bullets. Sure It Will.

Naval Magazine Indian Island

Location: Washington StateBackground: A small island off the coast of Washington State, the U.S. Navy purchased land on Indian Island in 1939. Now one of the smallest bases in the Navy (and most recently named Naval Magazine Indian Island), it has serviced naval ships as the last stop before the Pacific Ocean ever since.How It’s Unique: The final remaining deep-water ordnance facility on the West Coast without access restrictions, the small island helps ships—as large as Nimitz class aircraft carriers—load and offload ammunition. The site has more than 100 “magazines” for weapon storage, located underground in domed mounds. Every ship leaving the Northwest region gets supplied by the island that has the ability to service everything from U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats to submarines to aircraft carriers.

Siachen Glacier

Location: India and Pakistan Background: India and Pakistan have long disputed the ownership of the Siachen Glacier, also a four decade-plus home of the Indian Army.How It’s Unique: Located at over 21,000 feet, the Siachen Glacier isn’t your run-of-the-mill military outpost. High in the mountains north of Jammu and Kashmir, both India and Pakistan have disputed the site, although the Indian Army has a base and controlling interest of two of the main mountain passes. With windstorms, snowstorms, thin oxygen, and frigid temperatures, not only is the site expensive to operate, but it’s also costly in terms of human sacrifice.Read This Next: Pakistan’s First Fighter Plane Has a Mystery Buyer

Mount Weather

Location: VirginiaBackground: The public first heard about this top-secret site now run by the Department of Homeland Security in 1974, but it has operated for longer than that, with weather history dating to the 1800s and uses during World War II.How It’s Unique: The history of Mount Weather has an ample shroud of intrigue, with an origin story largely unknown. While it was born as a weather station in the 1800s and then became a camp during World War II, the underground portion of the facility was likely done around 1960 and a training ground created around 1980. In more recent times, the Department of Homeland Security has run the subterranean facility, and it has served as an operations center, housing high-level government officials during emergency times, such as then-Vice President Dick Cheney during the 9/11 attacks. Dive Deeper: What We Know About the White House's Secret BunkerAlso home to the FEMA National Radio System, the Blue Ridge Mountains site was not widely known until a plane crash in 1974 near the site brought the public’s attention to its location when reporters were not allowed near it.

Kapustin Yar

Location: Astrakhan Oblast, southeast of Volograd, Russia.Background: Kapustin Yar was one of the Soviet Union’s first rocket and missile test sites. It was established on May 13, 1946 and, a year later, testing on the German A-4 (V-2) rocket began. The first of the captured missiles was sent aloft on October 18, 1947. How it’s Unique: In addition to testing early ballistic missiles, Kapustin Yar was the site of some of the Soviet Union’s first suborbital animal flights. In 1966, the secret base was turned into a cosmodrome, which is still operating today. The Soviets launched a number of dogs into Earth’s atmosphere in the 1960s, including the pups Kusachka and Otvazhnaya. The missile test site was also the location of five atmospheric nuclear tests and is the site of a number of Soviet-era UFO sightings. It is known to many as “Russia’s Roswell.”The nearby town of Znamensk was established in secret to support the scientists and engineers who worked at Kapustin Yar. No one was allowed to visit without government clearance and it wasn’t on any official maps. PLUS: The Air Force Secretly Acquired a New Russian Missile System

Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity

Location: North CarolinaBackground: The former 1940s military site took on a new identity weeks after the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. It turned into a weapons testing facility and was also used as a training ground and spy school.How It’s Unique: Most known for the Osama Bin Laden house mockup built on site for training for the Navy SEALs, Harvey Point —the facility is tucked behind security fences and Spanish moss-laden cypress trees—has served as a CIA site for decades, cloaked in classified veils. As more people start to spill the secrets of Harvey Point, its use as not only a weapons testing facility, but also a training facility, has come to light, with everyone from the CIA, FBI, SEALs and counter-terrorism units the world over going through the site.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Location: Dayton, OhioBackground: In operation since 1917, the facility saw rapid growth around World War II.How It’s Unique: Reverse-engineering always sounds so cryptic. The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton, Ohio, has been reverse-engineering aircraft for much of its 103-year history, especially during the Cold War. Add in the fact that Hangar 18 has a tie to the Roswell crash, and conspiracy theorists enjoy the intrigue—and strangeness—of Wright-Patterson.

Toulon Military Port

Location: Toulon, France Background: The location first became a port under Louis XII in 1514. An arsenal was added in 1599 and updates have occurred ever since.How It’s Unique: The first naval base in Europe and now the home to more than 70 percent of France’s navy, the arsenal on the east coast has continued to grow and evolve over the centuries. The site built the country’s first iron ships and world’s first modern submarines.

Yulin Naval Base

Location: Hainan Island, ChinaBackground: Likely constructed at some point during the 2000s, the Chinese have turned caverns into a naval base able to hold nuclear submarines.How It’s Unique: The Chinese have taken a resort island and turned underwater tunnels into an entrance to an underground naval base. This underwater naval base, using technology popular in the mining and petroleum industries, allows submarines to enter the leave without detection, turning caverns and harbors into homes for dozens of nuclear submarines.PLUS: China Swears It Isn’t Building a Time Machine

Thule Air Base

Location: Qaasuitsup, GreenlandBackground: Thule Air Base sits within 800 miles of the Arctic Circle, making it the northernmost U.S. military installation. Among the many challenges posed by the region’s climate is that the base’s port is only accessible for three months each year, so major supplies need to be shipped during the summer. The base may be frozen and remote, but the 12th Space Warning Squadron operates an early warning system for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from Thule, while the 21st Space Wing is in charge of space surveillance operations. How It’s Unique: Schulz, who worked on a dormitory replacement project at Thule, explains that construction crews essentially need to build on the most stable layer of permafrost they can get to. With temperatures dropping below minus-60 degrees Fahrenheit, keeping troops warm is crucial. One of the more interesting weather-specific features is that all of the utilities are above ground, because it would be too hard to quickly access them if something went awry. ”You don’t bury any waterlines, communication lines or even sanitary lines,” Schulz says. “They’re all insulated and triple-heat-taped.”Schulz also notes that all the buildings on the base are equipped with so-called arctic vestibules, which provide 24/7 access to shelter while ensuring the buildings remain secure.

Dugway Proving Ground

Location: Great Salt Lake Desert, UtahBackground: Within two months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside the first 127,000 acres of Dugway Proving Ground in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. Over the past 60 years, the site has expanded to nearly 800,000 acres, roughly the size of Rhode Island.How It’s Unique: Dugway’s massiveness allows it to be the premier site for testing defense systems against chemical and biological weapons, as well as military-grade smoke bombs. During World War II, the facility played a vital role in the development of incendiary bombs.In order to test the fire-causing weapons, crews at Dugway built replicas of German and Japanese villages, even going so far as to fill the model buildings with furniture that would be similar to that found in the respective country. Today, the remains of the German village are eligible to be included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia

Location: Diego Garcia BIOT, Chagos ArchipelagoBackground: This joint U.S. and U.K. operation is situated on a tiny atoll about 1000 miles from India and tasked with providing logistical support to forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.How It’s Unique: “There’s a certain amount of logistical difficulty” with ultra-remote facilities like Diego Garcia, Schulz says, and shipping materials can be costly. Diego Garcia's remoteness, though, allows it to be a key hub for tracking satellites, and it is one of five monitoring stations for GPS. Additionally, the island is one of only a handful of locations equipped with a Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system for tracking objects in deep space. As an atoll, the land itself is rather oddly shaped, too. From end to end, Diego Garcia is 34 miles long, but its total area is only 11 square miles.

HAARP Research Station

Location: Gakona, AlaskaBackground: HAARP, or the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, is a collaborative project involving the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the University of Alaska. Researchers at the facility use a powerful high-frequency transmitter and an array of 180 antennas to temporarily disrupt the ionosphere in hopes of yielding potential communications and surveillance benefits.How It’s Unique: HAARP has been the centerpiece of countless conspiracy theories, ranging from rumors that it will be used for mind control to claims that it can manipulate the weather of individual countries. The project’s website says the equipment can only function properly if it is located in the auroral region, and Alaska happens to be the only U.S. state that fits that criterion.A quiet electromagnetic location is needed for the system to operate, which further explains the removed location of HAARP. In past interviews, HAARP’s operators readily admit they’re researching potential defense applications. HAARP is not classified.Check This Out: The Craziest Conspiracy Theories That People Actually Believe

Forward Logistics Base

Location: Siachen Glacier, KashmirBackground: For more than 25 years, India and Pakistan have been battling for control of the nearly 50-mile-long Siachen Glacier. Both sides have set up military installations in the imposing Karakoram range, where 3-mile-high mountain peaks are the norm.How It’s Unique: Troops stationed in this barely inhabitable war zone face endless peril. While a 2004 ceasefire has been honored, soldiers on the world’s highest battleground still fight altitude sickness, deadly temperatures and bone-crushing avalanches. There are no precise figures on how many lives have been lost during the conflict, but some estimates put the death toll as high as 5000, many of which are attributed to climate-related events. Due to the lack of infrastructure in the region, helicopter pilots are placed in harm’s way as they navigate unpredictable winds and poor weather to delivery basic necessities.

Cheyenne Mountain Complex

Location: Cheyenne Mountain Complex Air Force Station, Colo.:Background: This iconic underground base has been inspiring science fiction writers and awing engineers since 1966. Located nearly a half mile under a granite mountain, the labyrinthine facility is run by Air Force Space Command. The base earned its place in pop culture when the television version of Stargate made Cheyenne Mountain the HQ of cosmic time travel.How It’s Unique: One-of-a-kind bases like Cheyenne pose countless construction challenges and need to satisfy seemingly impossible requirements, like being able to withstand multi-megaton attacks. “It would be hard for a contractor to bid a project like this, because you might be using new construction techniques, new construction technology,” Schulz says.Aside from sitting under a mountain of granite, an extremely hard rock, the base is protected by 25-ton blast doors, and some rooms sit on massive beds of springs to better absorb a blast. “It’s certainly not a very secret installation, but it’s well-protected.”

Devil's Tower Camp

Location: GibraltarBackground: Certain geographic locations will never lose their strategic importance. Case in point: Gibraltar. British control of the territory dates back to 1713, when Spain ceded the land in the Treaty of Utrecht. Nowadays, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment watches over the territory from its Devil’s Tower Camp headquarters.How It’s Unique: The location’s strategic importance stems from the Strait of Gibraltar, which joins together the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, but the area also provides unique training opportunities in parachuting, diving and tunnel warfare. Under the streets of Gibraltar is an extensive 35-mile-long tunnel system carved through limestone. On the southern tip of Gibraltar is the Buffadero Training Center, which includes two live firing ranges, an obstacle course, and a mock village that mimics warfare in an urban environment.

Joint Defence Space Research Facility Pine Gap

Location: Lingiari, AustraliaBackground: Near the hot, desolate center of Australia, just outside of Alice Springs, is the Joint Defence Space Research Facility Pine Gap. Australia and the U.S. agreed to build the compound in 1966, but desert flooding, blistering heat, and a lack of paved roads slowed initial construction efforts. The site officially opened in June 1970 and has been a joint U.S./Australian operation since.How It’s Unique: Pine Gap’s collection of eight or so radomes and its remote location have sparked many UFO-related rumors, both in Australia and abroad. The main function of Pine Gap is to monitor any missile activity in the region and relay intelligence to U.S. and Australian forces. Schulz points out there are certain military installations, like Pine Gap or HAARP, that can only operate effectively in certain geographical areas. “Even though they’re in terrible environments, some portion of that land is strategically important,” he says. In 2009, the Australian Department of Defence announced plans to upgrade antiquated equipment at the facility, indicating that Pine Gap has a long future ahead of it.Read More Here: France Is Furious with Australia Over a Broken Submarine Deal. Here’s Why.

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases

Location: Fort Detrick, MarylandBackground: Anthrax, Ebola virus, plague, and monkeypox are just a few of the deadly microbes handled by researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, commonly known as USAMRIID. Over the years, the institute has made significant contributions to the development of vaccines, diagnostics and treatments that have both military and civilian applications.How It’s Unique: USAMRIID is the only Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory under the purview of the Department of Defense. Facilities like these are all about redundancies, Shulz says, and the safety requirements needed for BSL-4 certification are extensive and complex. A few of the more notable precautions include double-door airlocks, sophisticated filtration systems capable of catching microscopic particles, fumigation chambers, and a completely air-tight building. According to the National Institutes of Health, many of the BSL-4 facilities build buffer corridors around the laboratories to help mitigate damage from any potential blasts.

Naval Air Station Jacksonville

Location: Jacksonville, FloridaBackground: The Hangar 511 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville is the largest hangar in the Navy’s inventory, capable of storing 33 P3-C Orions, four C-130 Hercules, and a helicopter unit. In the coming years, the hangar will be instrumental in housing the P-8 Poseidon and its 120-foot wingspan.How It’s Unique: Hangar 511 is one of only three hangars, military or civilian, to achieve LEED Silver certification. Schulz says HNTB fitted sections of Kalwall—a translucent, polymer panel—into the southern wall so natural light could illuminate the hangar and curb energy consumption. The designers also avoided using conventional sliding hangar doors and opted for Megadoors, which are made from fabric and pulled vertically, similar to blinds in a bedroom. “It has, I think, the largest fabric hangar doors ever constructed,” Schulz says. “There are two of them that are 60 feet tall by 450 feet long. The truss that spans that 450 feet is 15 feet wide and 35 feet tall. Those are very interesting pieces of equipment.”

Raven Rock Mountain Complex

Location: Adams Country, PennsylvaniaBackground: This notoriously cryptic facility is built under Raven Rock mountain near the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The site was birthed during the Cold War and goes by many names, including Site R and the underground Pentagon.How It’s Unique: Site R’s mission is to facilitate the Continuity of Operations Plan, a blueprint for how the government would reposition itself if a major catastrophe strikes. Should the country find itself in peril, defense communications and planning will allegedly be handled here, but the utility of such a strategy has been hotly debated. Not too far away, in Virginia, is Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, which is the FEMA-controlled, civilian-centered counterpart to Site R. “Everyone knows it exists, but I would say folks are probably not aware of its complete function,” Schulz says.

Temporary Deployable Accommodations

Location: Iraq and AfghanistanBackground: Temporary Deployable Accommodations, or TDAs, are the brainchild of global engineering firm KBR. These on-the-fly facilities can be large enough to host 600 troops and take less than a month to set up.How It’s Unique: Each eight-man tent is built from PVC-barrel cover and a composite insulation liner. Air conditioners help U.K. and U.S. forces counter the sweltering heat of the region. Andrew Jeacock, former marketing director for KBR and now head of engagement for the U.K. Ministry of Defence, boasts that the real tech gems of a TDA are its vacuum waste-distribution system and the waste-water treatment plant. The filtration system is so effective, Jeacock says, that it renders waste water nearly potable. KBR has looked for ways to improve fuel and water efficiency of next-generation TDAs.Dive Deeper: The Water From Your Tap Is an Engineering Marvel Millennia in the Making

Edwards Air Force Base

Location: Edwards, CaliforniaBackground: America’s first jet, the Bell P-59, made its debut flight on October 1, 1942 at Muroc Dry Lake, now known as Edwards Air Force Base. A mere six years later, at the same site, Chuck Yeager busted through the sound barrier in a Bell X-1, marking the first time an aircraft had traveled faster than the speed of sound. Today, Edwards is home to the Air Force Flight Test Center and NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, both of which are molding the future of aviation.How It’s Unique: Edwards’ legacy of speed is due, in part, to the fact that it's built adjacent to Rogers Dry Lake, a large salt flat that can be used as a natural extension to a runway. “The uniqueness comes from just how large it is,” Schulz says. “Even when you get to the main gate and show some identification, your drive from there to the airfield is significant.”The immediate benefit of the base’s size is that it provides plenty of space in case an aircraft (or spacecraft) gets a bit out of control, but Schulz also points out that it helps cut down on noise pollution for nearby civilian populations.

Lajes Field

Location: Azores, PortugalBackground: Lajes Field, on the small, Portuguese-owned Terceira Island, is an important refueling station for aircraft that can’t clear the Atlantic Ocean in a single shot. In 1953, the U.S. established its first presence on the island when it positioned the 1605th Air Base Wing at Lajes. Today, the 65th Air Base Wing is stationed at the facility, providing support to U.S. Air Forces in Europe and to a variety of allies.How It’s Unique: Lajes Field is on a small chunk of volcanic rock about 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal, a location that can be stressful for first-time navigators. About 11 miles long from north to south, the island is not capable of supporting more than one airport, so the field is split between civilian operations and military operations.“All the military support facilities line one side of the runway, and the passenger terminal, if you will, is very small on the other side,” Schulz says.

Nellis Air Force Base

Location: Nellis AFB, NevadaBackground: Nellis Air Force Base is a revered training facility and the location of the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. The base has been operational since the 1940s.How It’s Unique: In 2007, officials at Nellis cut the red ribbon for North America’s largest solar power plant at the time. More than 6 million solar cells are laced throughout 72,000 panels, feeding the base about 30 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy each year. Upping the eco-ante of the project is the fact that the solar farm is built atop a capped landfill. The Air Force estimated that the array would help it shed 24,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, while saving upward of $1 million.Up Next: How Do Solar Panels Work? And Where Are They Headed Next?

Defence Training Estate Salisbury Plain

Location: Wiltshire, EnglandBackground: The now defunct British War Office started snatching up land in this region of southern England back in 1897. Salisbury, location of the contentious Imber Live Firing Range, is still used regularly to put Royal Marines through the wringer.How It’s Unique: Fewer than 10 miles from Salisbury is the wildly famous architectural site Stonehenge. In 2010, a crew of researchers led by Chris Pearson of the University of Bristol published the book Militarized Landscapes: From Gettysburg to Salisbury Plain, which examines how the training facility has helped keep the architectural and ecological legacy of Salisbury intact. “Army training leads to pollution, bomb craters and other forms of environmental damage,” Pearson said in a press statement shortly after the book's publication. “But military ownership of certain sites, such as Salisbury Plain, has kept intensive agriculture as well as tourism and urbanization at bay and encouraged the preservation of ecologically outstanding habitats.”

Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility

Location: Anniston Army Depot, AlabamaBackground: The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency’s Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is one of nine locations (seven of which, including Anniston, are closed) that once stored chemical weapons. During the 1960s, seven percent of U.S. chemical weapons were stashed at Anniston, including stockpiles of VX nerve-agent munitions.How It’s Unique: In the years leading up to its closure, operations at Anniston shifted from storing chemical weapons to safely destroying and disposing of them. Mustard-gas-filled munitions can’t just be chucked in the garbage, buried or dumped in a lake, so the facility is equipped with high-tech robotics that disassemble weapons and powerful incinerators that help destroy certain waste materials. Dive Deeper: How We'll Stop Chemical AttacksAt one point, workers at the site used a Linear Projectile Mortar Disassembly machine—a six-axis, remote-controlled robot—to extract the explosives from mortars filled with chemical agents.

Naval Submarine Base

Location: Kings Bay, GeorgiaBackground: Around 1980, the Navy began overhauling Kings Bay to be the East Coast location for Ohio-class nuclear submarines, a project that took nearly a decade and cost $1.3 billion, making it the largest peacetime construction project for the Navy at the time. Spread over 16,000 acres, about a quarter of which is protected wetlands, this submarine base is the habitat of 20 threatened or endangered species.How It’s Unique: When a submarine needs a little TLC, there’s not a better place than the Trident Refit Facility at Kings Bay. The 700-foot-long covered drydock, one of the largest in the world, is impressive, but what really stands out is the state of the art Magnetic Silencing Facility. The entrance of the silencing facility is designed as a drive-in, like a Jiffy Lube for Naval vessels. After a sub is in place, it’s subjected to a deperming treatment, which basically erases the sub's magnetic signature, allowing it to remain as stealthy as possible during future voyages.

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Moving from the military to Main Street challenges a younger generation of veteran entrepreneurs

Changing demographics in the military has led to modest growth in small business ownership for women and minorities who are veterans. (Small Business Administration)

WASHINGTON – As a graying workforce of veterans who own small businesses in America retires, fewer younger veterans are stepping up to replace them, according to the Small Business Administration.

There are nearly 2 million veteran-owned small businesses across the United States that provide an annual payroll of $256 billion and employ 5.5 million workers, administration officials said.

But veteran-owned small businesses are on a steady decline, dropping by more than a half in a decade. They also represent a dwindling share of the nation’s small businesses – decreasing from 11% in 2014 to just more than 5% in 2021, the SBA said.

Ownership is concentrated among older workers who are aging out of the workforce. More than half of veteran business owners were 65 and older, while less than 10% were younger than 45, according to an SBA study published in May 2023.

Contributing to the decline is a lack of access to capital – money to invest in starting and growing a business, according to a December 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office that looked at resources for veteran business owners.

Veterans reported conventional banks and lenders were sometimes unfamiliar with their business model and did not understand how their military service represented work experience, according to the GAO.

“I am stepping away. I needed a 9-to-5 job to be home with our son as my wife attended college,” 37-year-old Mike Wood of Colorado said about his reasons for ending his carpentry business in 2023. He could not afford to keep it running.

“There was too much financial uncertainty, and the people I hired did not have the work ethic I did as a former Marine,” Wood said.

Post-9/11 veteran business owners such as Wood, who served from 2006-2011, are more likely to experience “acute financing shortfalls” and have lower credit approval rates than their nonveteran peers, according to the SBA.

More than half of veteran business owners who took part in the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Small Business Credit Survey described their financial situations as poor or fair even though they considered their credit as strong.

Veterans often encounter obstacles to raising money, according to the GAO. Challenges include establishing credit and forming lasting business relationships, especially if they are new to a community after leaving the military.

Veterans interviewed for the GAO report said they faced cumbersome requirements on credit applications and long waits for approval.

Darrin Pruitt, 57, owns Pirate Island Events of Maryland, which produces live concerts and festivals. Pruitt has run three small businesses since leaving the Navy in 1996. Pruitt said raising capital has been a significant issue and sometimes a barrier, especially when he first left the service.

“People on the outside don’t understand what we did on the inside,” he said. “Military veterans don’t have the references and credentials civilians recognize. For example, when trying to get credit, you get asked why you have had so many addresses.”

But the SBA is working to smooth the lending process for veteran business owners. The number of loans to veteran-owned business increased by 33% in 2023 and loan dollars rose by nearly 40%, after declines from 2016-2020.

The SBA backed 2,800 loans to veteran-owned businesses, totaling $1.2 billion, in fiscal 2023. Changing demographics in the military are having a positive impact on business ownership as armed forces personnel exit the military. There is modest growth in ownership among veterans who are women and minorities, the SBA reported.

Business ownership among women rose by 5% from 2017 to 2021, and minority-owned businesses increased 3%, according to SBA figures.

The SBA in fiscal 2023 “increased services to our veterans and active-duty service members and their families through multiple programs enabling them to start, grow and expand their businesses,” an SBA spokesman said. “SBA continues to increase outreach to all service-disabled, veteran-owned, and military spouse-owned small businesses by counseling, training and federal contracting certification.”

To reach more veterans, the SBA expanded the number of veteran business outreach centers in 2023 to 28 locations. The regional hubs provide education, training and support.

More than 50,000 participants received training and assistance at the centers in fiscal 2023. The centers enabled 352 veterans and spouses to start new businesses, according to the SBA.

Organized as a “one-stop shops,” the centers offer business training, counseling and resource referrals for transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members and military spouses starting or growing a small business, said Timothy Green, acting associate administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development.

Veteran-owned businesses overall received 2% to 5% of loans through SBA-administered programs from 2016-2021 when seeking capital to fund small businesses, according to the GAO report.

The SBA “must give special consideration to veterans for its lending programs. But the agency hasn’t developed policies and procedures to do so,” the GAO report concluded. “For example, SBA committed to processing applications for veteran-owned businesses promptly. However, it doesn’t define what ‘promptly’ means... We recommend SBA establish specific procedure to ensure veterans are given special consideration.”

The SBA administers three primary loan programs for small businesses. The loans give entrepreneurs access to commercial lenders, assist with financing for fixed assets such as buildings, and provide “microloans” of up to $50,000 for technical assistance, among other areas. SBA resources include the Boots to Business education program offered in communities and at military bases.

Boots to Business is an entrepreneurial educational and training initiative offered as part of the Defense Department’s transition assistance program, known as TAP. It provides an overview of business ownership.

There also is SBA-funded training for disabled veterans, as well as small business support for spouses of military veterans.

What is the oldest military equipment still in use today?

As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The U.S. military occasionally takes that idea to an extreme, using some equipment every day that has been around for decades. 

Task & Purpose asked the services to name some of the oldest pieces of equipment they still use to this day. Here’s what we found: 

Today’s sailors use analog tools like the sextant, paper charts, protractors, and the compass for ocean navigation, some of which even predate the founding of the U.S. Navy, said David L. Clark, a spokesperson for the Navy.

Sailors are taught to use these tools in case digital communications systems, like GPS, go down or get jammed by an enemy.

“The ability of a sailor to go out on the ship’s deck and use visual indicators to understand their location is important,” Clark said. “The use of tools like these is how the U.S. Navy won the Pacific War against Japan.” 

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat and one of the Navy’s six original frigates. It was commissioned on Oct. 21, 1797. Made of wood and vaguely pirate-esque, the ship’s construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. 

The Constitution is most known for its actions during the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom where sailors captured merchant ships and defeated five British warships. It earned the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

Following the war, the ship took up various non-combat roles and has remained an active duty ship for over two centuries. The ship’s crew of active duty sailors promotes American naval heritage through educational outreach, public access, and historic demonstrations. It regularly sails around its home port in the Boston Harbor.

The KC-135 Stratotanker is primarily used for aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and allied aircraft. Almost all of its internal fuel can be pumped through the aircraft’s flying boom, with a boom operator stationed in the plane’s rear of the plane during in-flight air refueling. The KC-135 can refuel two receiver aircraft at once.

The Air Force’s oldest KC-135Rs that are still active were delivered and accepted into service inventory in the summer of 1958.

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The Air Force has been working to phase out KC-135s for a generation, first with KC-10s — which themselves will now all be retired by the end of 2024 — and the KC-46 Pegasus. But the Air Force’s fleet of nearly 400 KC-135s remains flying and refueling around the world. 

The Stratotanker can be used for aeromedical evacuations, and carry up to 83,000 pounds of cargo and up to 37 passengers. Each KC-135 costs roughly $39.6 million, versus over $240 million for each KC-46.

The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that can be used for both strategic attacks, including carrying nuclear bombs and close-air support for troops in direct combat on the ground.

Though the first B-52s were delivered to the Air Force in the early 1950s, all of the oldest B-52 models have retired. The Air Force only currently flies the B-52H models. Still, they are getting up in the sky. The oldest one actively flying entered the service’s inventory in January 1960, according to Maj. Kaitlin D. Holmes, an Air Force spokesperson.

The bomber can fly up to 50,000 feet and can carry nuclear or precision-guided munitions.

The first B-52s arrived just after the Korean War and have been used in every U.S. conflict since. B-52s played a significant role in the Vietnam War and more specifically in Operation Linebacker II. B-52 aircrews dropped more than 15,000 tons of bombs on military targets during the operation and “helped force the North Vietnamese back to the peace table,” according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

During Operation Desert Storm, B-52s delivered 40% of weapons dropped by coalition forces.

The B-52 returned to the Central Command in 2016 for the first time in a decade with nearly 1,800 combat sorties against ISIS forces in Syria and Iraq.

The Air Force expects to operate B-52s through 2050.

Known among troops as “Ma Deuce,” soldiers have used the M2 .50 caliber rifle since World War II. It’s also seen combat in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, Operation Just Cause in Panama, the Gulf War, the Battle of Mogadishu, and the Global War on Terror.

The Army is still buying them today. In October, a Nevada company, U.S. Ordnance, was awarded a $16,364,451 contract for M2A2, enough to buy approximately 1,000 of the machine guns.

The modern-day M2 was modeled after John M. Browning’s Model of the M1917 .30-caliber Browning heavy machine gun, a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cooled weapon system that saw use toward the end of the First World War. The munition Browning developed, known as the .50 BMG, entered official service with the Army in 1921 and is still being used today.

After WWI, the M1917 became the standard heavy machine gun of both the Army and the Marine Corps. The gun’s design was modified and refined over the years. In 1933, Colt unveiled the M2 Browning which became the modern-day M2A1 with a quick-change barrel. Today, it’s also used by the Marine Corps.

Another piece of equipment that’s stuck around, while less impressive, it’s still just as useful – the metal canteen.

American soldiers have drunk from essentially unchanged canteens in the French trenches during World War I, at Special Forces camps in Vietnam, and with coalition forces during the invasion of Iraq.

During the American Revolution and early 20th century, soldiers used canteens made of wood and tin. In 1909, the Infantry Equipment Board shifted to containers made from aluminum and steel. In 1962, the M-1961 became the Army standard and was made out of olive drab polyethylene. 

Modern canteens have also been made of hard plastic, but metal ones are still around. 

“The metal canteen cup is intended to hold hot liquids, such as coffee or soup, and can be used to boil liquids. Because of this need to handle heat, the metal cup is still used with the M1961 plastic canteen,” according to a Facebook page titled “Army Water Bottles and Mess Kits Collection.”

Eventually, troops’ need for water on the battlefield led to the creation of the modern-day CamelBak. However troops in Afghanistan and Iraq still sometimes opted for the green, kidney-shaped plastic canteens.

The Marine Corps still has two swords from the 19th century in its stock but they are only used for ceremonial purposes these days.

The Mameluke Sword is the oldest weapon still in use in the U.S. Marine Corps’ arsenal. The Mameluke Sword was originally given to Lt. Presley O’Bannon in 1805 by a Mameluke chieftain in North Africa. O’Bannon and his Marines marched across 600 miles of North African desert to rid the “shores of Tripoli” of pirates and rescue kidnapped crew from the USS Philadelphia. By 1825, all Marine Corps officers carried the sword in recognition of the Marine Corps’ first battle on foreign soil, according to the service.

The NCO Sword, adopted in 1859, is carried by Marine Noncommissioned Officers and Staff Noncommissioned Officers.

Today’s modern-day amphibious assault vehicle can trace its origin to the 1920s and 30s when Marine Corps planners were preparing for a Pacific war against the Japanese empire. 

The Marine Corps took the Alligator, an amphibious rescue vehicle, and developed a more powerful steel-plated military version called the Landing Vehicle Tracked, or LVT. It was originally built in 1941 as an unarmoured cargo carrier but eventually acquired armor. There were two types: an armored amphibious personnel and cargo carrier and a turreted amphibious gun-vehicle for close fire support during landing operations. 

Around 18,620 LVTs were built during World War II. They played a prominent role in the island battles in the Pacific like Guadalcanal.

After several iterations, in 1985 the LVTP-7 was redesignated the AAVP7A1, going from a landing vehicle to an assault vehicle. Despite its amphibious qualities, the AAVP7A1 has been used in land-centric conflicts like the Iraq War. 

The Marine Corps is currently phasing out the AAV with the amphibious combat vehicle. The AAV continues to be used by Marines for ground training while being permanently banned from the water.

“AAVs will only return to operating in the water if needed for crisis response,” Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger said in 2021.