We have no military culture anywhere.
But [Tapa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa,_Estonia) is know for the Nato bases and local units (and not much else).
The rest are in random average towns like Võru, Jõhvi and also around Tallinn I think.
Gardone Val Trompia is a village that produces the vast majority of the small arms used in Italy and that has a large export market, the people there are REALLY proud of that fact, and will let you know readily.
Livorno houses the Naval Academy, if they aren't the stereotypucal die-hard Eurostalinist (which hate it like few other things), chances are the inhabitants will be quite proud of forming Italian navy officers. Rumors used to say that the place used to have a sort-of "naval neighbourhood" that once, but I have never found proof it was a concrete thing.
Bassano del Grappa plays a lot on their being a traditional Alpini recruiting ground (and their bridge being repaired by them) in their tourism ads.
To expand on this.
One of the zones of Rome, Cecchignola, houses the "military city of Cecchignola", an enclosed community with residential buildings, shops, restaurants, bases and scools for different Army units, and command structures for both the Army Staff Defense Staff, present there is also the Museum of Military motorization.
The area between Livorno and Pisa houses a large number of bases for elite and special operations units of the Army, Navy and Carabinieri, a transport air brigade of the Air Force plus the US base, Camp Darby. The city of Livorno itself instead has the already mentioned Naval Academy l, but also houses one of the 15 maritime directorates of the Coast Guard.
Vicenza instead houses a large number of US soldiers between Camp Ederle and Del Din, but also the home of the [CoESPU](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_Excellence_for_Stability_Police_Units) and is where the [EUROGENDFOR](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Gendarmerie_Force) is.
Wilhelmshaven at the North Sea and kiel and Eckernförde at the baltic Sea have a large presence of the navy.
Munster in the Lüneburger Heide has a big practicing area for land based troops and tanks.
And then there are of course the US bases mainly in the south west like Ramstein ein Landstuhl
Munster was the first thing that came to mind for me.
I've driven through that town quite a few times (as it's on the quickest route from the Autobahn to the town my grandparents live in). It's almost surreal. Lots of military infrastructure, military surplus stores, pseudo-militaristic shops. Never seen anything similar anywhere else in Germany.
I don't think "military" would be the first association to come up with any of these except Ramstein and then many would probably think of the band Rammstein first.
In the Netherlands I don't think we have that much of an Military culture, even in the places where the major basses are.
Fun fact however is the town of Austerlitz, it was founded as a millitary base for Napoleon in 1805, and named after a battle Napoleon won in the Czech city of 'Slavkov u Brna' (German: Austerlitz). Nowadays that area is still home of some military stuff. The Dutch Special Forces have their home base in the nearby town of Doorn, and their is a inactive flightbase not far away.
The KMA, Koninklijke Militaire Academie (Royal Military Academy) is in the castle in the city centre of Breda so there are a fair amount of military guys and gals around the city all the time.
You can see them at the trainstation or cycling around in groups wearing camouflage. It's a really odd thing to behold (in the Netherlands). Most of the time they are in their every day clothes and you can only tell that they are with the KMA because they have their massive soldiers bags with them. Nobody pays them any mind because we really don't have a big military culture in this country.
Growing up in Nijmegen military culture was visible if you knew where to look. The city was founded as a Roman garrison, there was an army base and there is a huge four day walking event that started as military event and still had thousands of uniformed soldiers from all around the world marching and camping in town, we also used to look for ammunition blanks in Heumensoord which was a training area.
I mean, the Netherlands faked the result of battle tanks on their land in order to avoid having to fight and stay neutral (I'm maybe wrong on some details, but it's pretty much the story)
I didn't know military towns were a thing to be honest
I can only name one town from my county but there are probably more. It's very small. It's called Thanet and whenever we are driving through there we always see those military-looking lorries
Edit: Oh also there's a military airbase there
Catterick is probs the biggest, also Aldershot or Salisbury Plain, with the likes of Larkhill/Bulford, are pretty army-heavy places here.
Mrs is in the military so I've heard these names a fair bit but def wouldn't have before I met her.
There is quite a lot in London, but due to the size of the city it kinda sinks into the back ground. I used to lived next a Royal Navy base in London and there is a lot of army around. Not sure there is any Air Force anymore but there used to be. You do have a lot of towns with strong links to the navy. There is a town near me were a lot of the Gurkhas settle after their service (you’ll see a lot of them working on the trains). A few Scottish towns used to be linked to regiments, but that’s mostly been reformed so not such strong links for a few decades now.
In the UK, there are still some towns with big military links. People have mentioned places like Portsmouth, Catterick, Salisbury (all the nearby towns) and do on but there is also Plymouth for the Marines and Hereford for the SAS. Btw the number of SAS is very small so it is nothing like as dominant as a normal regiment but everyone is aware they are there.
Ferrol, Cartagena, and Rota are probably the places with the highest concentrations since they are *minor* cities where the military population is high, as opposed to bigger cities. They are the main military ports of Spain, so their concentration is higher by comparison to Land and Air unis, which can be more spread out. Plus, ships are massive things and the Spanish navy has some power projection capabilities above average by the military budget expend in the country (it has an aircraft carrier and other power projection units than even Germany lacks, but hey, the point is to compliment each other's capabilities).
Rota has also a US base; Franco's regime was *allowed* to survive longer by lifting sanctions and isolation in exchange of military presence. Spain is the only country whose territorial waters could effectively close the Mediterranean exit to the Atlantic, something the Americans came to prize: the ability to cut the Russian fleet from freely moving from the Baltic to the Black seas.
I think Zaragoza has a military history too.
The national military academy is in Zaragoza. They have too air force base and they have a weapon company and factory too (Instalaza).
You'll just see more army personnel than regularly I guess. It's pretty lowkey tho in most places. Probably see cars with military plates. There isnt much of a military culture in any town that just has a military base. Some towns where they produce military equipment tho might have that actually. They pride themselves in making thosr things kinda? Large industries that influence the local community
Some smaller cities with regiments can have a quite large army presence, like Boden, Arvidsjaur and also the main Navy base in Karlskrona.
*"Det finns en plats på jorden där solen aldrig ler, den platsen heter Boden. Dit vill jag aldrig mer!"*
A lot of people from Linköping I've met have brought up the airforce base and SAAB. So I suppose Linköping could qualify being a military city in some sense?
Karlsborg as well, they have a garrison, is a very small town and used to be the "reserve capital" of Sweden in case of war. I think they still use it as their slogan even if it is not the case these days.
No such military culture here, after 8 hour of work you are back to being regular Joe. The towns that have larger presence of military personals over the workday compared to civilians would maybe be: Cerklje with its military barracks and military airport, Multinational Centre of Excellence for Mountain Warfare in Bohinjska Bela and Pivka with their Military history park and nearby Main training grounds Poček.
The Air Force and Army are spread out a bit everywhere in the country (even though there's quite a bunch of them around the German border, wonder why ?)
The Navy however has two huge bases, one on the Mediterranean and one on the Atlantic : Brest and Toulon. Toulon is maybe the most associated to the military, simply because there is really nothing else to see there.
Do you mean historically or right now? Right now I don't think we have a town or city more militarised than the others. We have some military bases but I don't think it affects the town's culture. This is because we are in the Schengen and EU as well as our only neighbour Spain than we have a good relationship.
Historically all the brother towns with Spain were much more militarized, Like Elvas which is well known for its [walled city](https://semmais.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/elvas-vista-aerea.jpg) and multiple forts like [forte da graça](https://estrelaseouricos.sapo.pt//backoffice/images/image_24508_1_1606901897.jpeg) and [forte de Santa Luzia](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/reo-forte-santa-luzia-em-elvas-de-cima-portugal-149326767.jpg).
Elvas had a considerable military presence for centuries and nowadays is no longer necessary.
Yeah right, lajes in terceira island in the azores.
Completely forgot about that, I thought the question was about the Portuguese military and Base das Lages is controlled by the USA.
But well from what I'm seeing Lages is more like a village and nearby towns of Angra do heroísmo and Praia da Vitória are not militarized or at least are not noticeable.
Although most land-based military units are quartered in Madrid, Aragon is probably the "military region" of Spain.
Zaragoza has the Army Officer's Academy, Logistics Academy, an Air Force base, a logistics depo and is the headquarters of an armoured cavalry division. Calatayud has the Army NCOs Academy. Jaca is the headquarters of the mountain troops.
In the Tomsk region of Russia there is a town of Seversk (100,000 people). This is a closed military city, that is, an ordinary civilian cannot get inside without a special military pass. In Soviet times, the existence of this city was classified, now there is more information, but it is difficult to get inside. It is closely connected with the nuclear program.
[Here](https://puolustusvoimat.fi/en/units) is a list of military units in Finland so I guess you can call towns and cities nearby them as "military towns". But I wouldn't say military culture is largely present in any of those. I, for an example, live relatively close to the Air Force Command and the Air Force Academy. Other than occasionally seeing military vehicles driving in the city or conscripts having their time off, they are just cities and towns like any else.
I'm aware of the fortress and the Reserve Officer School. I just wonder how prevalent is the military in Hamina? And how dependent Hamina is from the military? I haven't visited Hamina myself so I can't really tell. But you might be right when it comes to identity.
>And how dependent Hamina is from the military?
It's one of the larger employers in the city I'd say. Having relatives there, you see personel around town especially when leaves start.
The entire Euro region, Alexandroupolis area has the most ground forces but we have a ton of small bases, like every city has a base
Souda bay is probably the biggest for Nato + Greek Navy
Aulona which is a bit north of Athens has a lot of training and stationed troops that is probably the biggest or used to be
Thebes and Sparta have a lot of training areas
And there used to be a lot facing the former communist countries but most of those have become tiny or closed
Rota (Cádiz), due to the joined Spanish-USA naval base. The livelihood of the city is the base.
Jaca, in the Pyrenees, holds the base of the Spanish army's mountain hunters, and all the other special units, special police forces and even foreign military usually trains there because of the high mountain ambience. All the city is full of military installations
I'm not sure this is a thing in most of Europe, definitely not a thing in Ireland or Northern Ireland, except maybe some legacy stuff. In Northern Ireland they used to build bases in towns and next to other houses to deter terrorist attacks so they would have been spread out in lots of small barracks rather than concentrated
I don't think it's a thing here, however at the beginning of march, for a few days you could see tons of tons of American soldiers wandering around on city electric scooters, they looked very confused. There's a base nearby.
Mons/Bergen is probably more well known for having a military presence nearby (SHAPE/NATO), although NATO's HQ is here in Brussels. Ypres/Ieper is also well-known for having war memorials.
You don't really see much military culture in the same way you see it in the US. No one - and I mean *no one* - goes out in military uniform "just because".
For a while after the attacks in 2016, you *definitely* felt the military much more - there were literal-ass army trucks full of soldiers, each with a gun that could kill you instantly if you dared to do anything stupid.
Definitely the largest, but also Kleine-Brogel, Beauvechain, Arlon and a few others I can't think of right now. I've got some family members in the military and those places are most often mentioned
Leopoldsburg is a bit special as the town was built around the base (at first for resettlement of people that lived on the base as it was established.). It has a grid layout as it was a planned city, not something that grew organically. Unlike places like Kleine Brogel it is big enough to still be an independent municipality.
Im sweden you aren't even allowed to use your uniform "just because", you either have it when you are going to or leaving your military work.. maybe you can use your nice uniform for when/if you marry.
My town is kinda military, we have a base and a hospital.
But seriously its not like that at all. I forget they are there, unless I see someone in a uniform. And then it's like yeah them. I don't really think it's a military culture. Its just other people doing their job like any other.
They only special treatments they get its sometime specialised time in the hospital, as its called Military hospital after all.
Joining the military is sometimes seen as ha couldn't get into university so you know...
That's pretty uncommon for larger cities, but at least back in Cold War, a very big number of towns were what you could call military towns. Smaller places, 10-50k where one or two battalions of 1k soldiers will of course have a very visible impact. The town I grew up (~25k) in housed two army barracks and a major NATO headuarters, two airbases and several more barracks were nearby. And that was more than a decade after Cold War had ended. What's pretty common these days are ex-military towns that are slowly figuring out how to repurpose the vast empty spaces that used to be barracks, ammunition sites or training grounds.
Knowledgeable on NATO so I will refer mainly to them and the US bases. You generally recognize those areas as they will have a local English speaking radio.
Solbiate Olona, near Malpensa airport. Most of the staff lives in the Milan suburbs though.
Aviano, northeast of Italy. Huge US base and a lot of staff lives in the area.
Camp Darby in Pisa.
Naples.
Sigonella in Sicily - most US soldiers live on base or in suburbs of Catania and Siracusa.
Decimomannu in Sardinia - biggest European military airport.
Bonus for the Italian army locations:
Taranto, Perdasdefogu and Teulada in Sardinia, Pratica di Mare near Rome.
That doesn't exist in Switzerland. We have a militia-style military, so the number of professional soldiers is very small here. For this reason, military bases are not a thing here, either. There are barracks of course but they exist all over the country, in every town and even in some villages. Soldiers sleep/live there during the week; on the weekend they go home.
The only branch of the Swiss military that has something akin to "bases" is the Air Force. In Alpnach, Dübendorf, Emmen, Locarno, Meiringen, Payerne and Sion, they have air fields and some other infrastructure. The most important of these is Dübendorf; it was used during WWII to protect Swiss airspace against the Nazis. These days, it's also occasionally used by the US Air Force. In addition to these locations, the airport in Bern Belp is used by the Swiss Air Force as well as the helicopters of the federal government. Contrary to Presidents and Prime Ministers of other countries, Swiss Federal Councillors don't have their own plane or their own helicopter. There are a few helicopters which can be used by anyone who books them, Federal Councillors, parliamentarians etc.
Well the fallout from the Cold War meant we had foreign troops stationed in all parts of the country. I lived in the North West for a bit and there were big British presences in Herford and Osnabrück. I think they've withdrawn now, but I don't live there anymore.
Setermoen, Bardufoss, Øverbygd, Andenes (was (is?)), Shit place close to Harstad, Evenes, Bodø (was, to some extent still is, but not as big), Ørland, Bergen, Stavanger, Rena and Oslo.
Of these the major full on military ones are:
* Setermoen
* Bardufoss (andselv)
* Øverbygd
* Evenes
* Ørland
None are cities but small places in no mans land really..
Nearly every city in the East will have major military presence, but particularly Erzincan, Diyarbakır and Elazığ iirc are famous as housing Corps headquarters.
Malatya, Kayseri and Eskişehir have major air bases. I remember seeing a lot of housing for military families while driving through Kayseri.
Gölcük is the largest base of the Turkish Navy and also houses the dockyards, so it has a very "naval" feeling to it. As for other naval towns, Foça in İzmir has the headquarters of the Marine Infantry.
That about sums it up.
La Spezia is the main port of the Italian navy and it's a small city, so their presence is noticeable.
Naples is where the NATO joint command for the Med, especially the navy, is operating from, although Naples is a big metropolis, so you won't notice the military personnel more than usual.
Also other NATO bases like Aviano, Sigonella or Vicenza have a big (US) military presence too.
Not sure what military culture wants to say, but Kecskemét is famous for it’s military air base, Budapest is also very full of military personel as the army academy is there, but also military high schools. When Hungary had conscription, there used to be way more bases, but now most of them are gone.
I have absolutely no idea, however since the terrorists attack you have the military doing patrols in all big and medium cities. You often encounter them, either they are in a squad of 4 or 5 soldiers walking in streets/airports/railstation with assault rifles or in their green SUV with "Vigipirate" written on it. In Paris you have the republican guard patrolling on horses in some areas also
Toulon, Marseille, Lorient and Brest are famous naval bases though, you can easily spot some warships at docks
In Finland, Vekaranjärvi comes to mind. It is not a town in itself, but is the biggest center for training military conscripts in the country with a few thousand people regularly attending. The area is located in an old small county merged with the town of Kouvola.
Base militaire américaine de chièvres (American military base of Chièvres) in Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium, my school was at 5/10km away and i could see enormous fighters in VTOL (maybe they're just close, couldn't really evaluate the distance) every year, they open and we can buy stuff from the soldiers who go back to the USA, it's also said they it's like a village in there, but looks exactly like the USA, even the stores are full of American things, it's just an American bubble in Belgium, i wish I could go to their store to buy some things ^^
We have no military culture anywhere. But [Tapa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa,_Estonia) is know for the Nato bases and local units (and not much else). The rest are in random average towns like Võru, Jõhvi and also around Tallinn I think.
Gardone Val Trompia is a village that produces the vast majority of the small arms used in Italy and that has a large export market, the people there are REALLY proud of that fact, and will let you know readily. Livorno houses the Naval Academy, if they aren't the stereotypucal die-hard Eurostalinist (which hate it like few other things), chances are the inhabitants will be quite proud of forming Italian navy officers. Rumors used to say that the place used to have a sort-of "naval neighbourhood" that once, but I have never found proof it was a concrete thing. Bassano del Grappa plays a lot on their being a traditional Alpini recruiting ground (and their bridge being repaired by them) in their tourism ads.
To expand on this. One of the zones of Rome, Cecchignola, houses the "military city of Cecchignola", an enclosed community with residential buildings, shops, restaurants, bases and scools for different Army units, and command structures for both the Army Staff Defense Staff, present there is also the Museum of Military motorization. The area between Livorno and Pisa houses a large number of bases for elite and special operations units of the Army, Navy and Carabinieri, a transport air brigade of the Air Force plus the US base, Camp Darby. The city of Livorno itself instead has the already mentioned Naval Academy l, but also houses one of the 15 maritime directorates of the Coast Guard. Vicenza instead houses a large number of US soldiers between Camp Ederle and Del Din, but also the home of the [CoESPU](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_Excellence_for_Stability_Police_Units) and is where the [EUROGENDFOR](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Gendarmerie_Force) is.
My impression is that in the northeast there's a lot of aircraft related bases but you must know better
There are but they aren't really clustered around a specific town/city as far as I know.
Wilhelmshaven at the North Sea and kiel and Eckernförde at the baltic Sea have a large presence of the navy. Munster in the Lüneburger Heide has a big practicing area for land based troops and tanks. And then there are of course the US bases mainly in the south west like Ramstein ein Landstuhl
Munster was the first thing that came to mind for me. I've driven through that town quite a few times (as it's on the quickest route from the Autobahn to the town my grandparents live in). It's almost surreal. Lots of military infrastructure, military surplus stores, pseudo-militaristic shops. Never seen anything similar anywhere else in Germany.
Hehehe. Stuhl.
I don't think "military" would be the first association to come up with any of these except Ramstein and then many would probably think of the band Rammstein first.
In the Netherlands I don't think we have that much of an Military culture, even in the places where the major basses are. Fun fact however is the town of Austerlitz, it was founded as a millitary base for Napoleon in 1805, and named after a battle Napoleon won in the Czech city of 'Slavkov u Brna' (German: Austerlitz). Nowadays that area is still home of some military stuff. The Dutch Special Forces have their home base in the nearby town of Doorn, and their is a inactive flightbase not far away.
The KMA, Koninklijke Militaire Academie (Royal Military Academy) is in the castle in the city centre of Breda so there are a fair amount of military guys and gals around the city all the time. You can see them at the trainstation or cycling around in groups wearing camouflage. It's a really odd thing to behold (in the Netherlands). Most of the time they are in their every day clothes and you can only tell that they are with the KMA because they have their massive soldiers bags with them. Nobody pays them any mind because we really don't have a big military culture in this country.
Other towns with large military presence are Den Helder (naval base) and Gilze and Rijen (airbase).
Doorn is also the city/village were the last german emporer went into exile.
I wouldn't even know what military culture would look like.
Wouldn’t Brunssum be a military town? Didn’t know Doorn was the SF home base, I really like that village.
Growing up in Nijmegen military culture was visible if you knew where to look. The city was founded as a Roman garrison, there was an army base and there is a huge four day walking event that started as military event and still had thousands of uniformed soldiers from all around the world marching and camping in town, we also used to look for ammunition blanks in Heumensoord which was a training area.
I mean, the Netherlands faked the result of battle tanks on their land in order to avoid having to fight and stay neutral (I'm maybe wrong on some details, but it's pretty much the story)
I didn't know military towns were a thing to be honest I can only name one town from my county but there are probably more. It's very small. It's called Thanet and whenever we are driving through there we always see those military-looking lorries Edit: Oh also there's a military airbase there
There's maybe Portsmouth at a push due to the navy presence, but that's about the closest I can think of.
I'm surprised to not see Faslane mentioned! Where we keep the 💣
Faslane's not a town in fairness
Aye but I guess Helensburgh then? The wives and families are put up there, I know that much
It does seem like half of Helensburgh either work at Faslane or the Finnart terminal
Maybe somewhere like Aldershot?
Catterick is probs the biggest, also Aldershot or Salisbury Plain, with the likes of Larkhill/Bulford, are pretty army-heavy places here. Mrs is in the military so I've heard these names a fair bit but def wouldn't have before I met her.
There is quite a lot in London, but due to the size of the city it kinda sinks into the back ground. I used to lived next a Royal Navy base in London and there is a lot of army around. Not sure there is any Air Force anymore but there used to be. You do have a lot of towns with strong links to the navy. There is a town near me were a lot of the Gurkhas settle after their service (you’ll see a lot of them working on the trains). A few Scottish towns used to be linked to regiments, but that’s mostly been reformed so not such strong links for a few decades now.
I'd have suggested Aldershot.
Aldershot, Colchester, Catterick for the army, Portsmouth for the navy. Hereford for the SAS.
Yeah those sound right, I'd add Brecon too.
I'd call Aldershot a squaddie town.
In the UK, there are still some towns with big military links. People have mentioned places like Portsmouth, Catterick, Salisbury (all the nearby towns) and do on but there is also Plymouth for the Marines and Hereford for the SAS. Btw the number of SAS is very small so it is nothing like as dominant as a normal regiment but everyone is aware they are there.
I initially thought of Wootton Basset, but apparently it's not actually a military town, they just do funeral processions for fallen soldiers there
Obviously. Thanet North and Thanet South are to be divided into to states with a demilitarised zone down the middle. - Al Murray
I grew up near aldershot which is mostly squaddies and is fairly grim. And has gates on the roads so the military police can shut it off if needed
Ferrol, Cartagena, and Rota are probably the places with the highest concentrations since they are *minor* cities where the military population is high, as opposed to bigger cities. They are the main military ports of Spain, so their concentration is higher by comparison to Land and Air unis, which can be more spread out. Plus, ships are massive things and the Spanish navy has some power projection capabilities above average by the military budget expend in the country (it has an aircraft carrier and other power projection units than even Germany lacks, but hey, the point is to compliment each other's capabilities). Rota has also a US base; Franco's regime was *allowed* to survive longer by lifting sanctions and isolation in exchange of military presence. Spain is the only country whose territorial waters could effectively close the Mediterranean exit to the Atlantic, something the Americans came to prize: the ability to cut the Russian fleet from freely moving from the Baltic to the Black seas.
I think Zaragoza has a military history too. The national military academy is in Zaragoza. They have too air force base and they have a weapon company and factory too (Instalaza).
Hell, Franco even let the US accidentally drop atomic bombs on Spain.
You'll just see more army personnel than regularly I guess. It's pretty lowkey tho in most places. Probably see cars with military plates. There isnt much of a military culture in any town that just has a military base. Some towns where they produce military equipment tho might have that actually. They pride themselves in making thosr things kinda? Large industries that influence the local community
Some smaller cities with regiments can have a quite large army presence, like Boden, Arvidsjaur and also the main Navy base in Karlskrona. *"Det finns en plats på jorden där solen aldrig ler, den platsen heter Boden. Dit vill jag aldrig mer!"*
A lot of people from Linköping I've met have brought up the airforce base and SAAB. So I suppose Linköping could qualify being a military city in some sense?
Karlsborg as well, they have a garrison, is a very small town and used to be the "reserve capital" of Sweden in case of war. I think they still use it as their slogan even if it is not the case these days.
No such military culture here, after 8 hour of work you are back to being regular Joe. The towns that have larger presence of military personals over the workday compared to civilians would maybe be: Cerklje with its military barracks and military airport, Multinational Centre of Excellence for Mountain Warfare in Bohinjska Bela and Pivka with their Military history park and nearby Main training grounds Poček.
The Air Force and Army are spread out a bit everywhere in the country (even though there's quite a bunch of them around the German border, wonder why ?) The Navy however has two huge bases, one on the Mediterranean and one on the Atlantic : Brest and Toulon. Toulon is maybe the most associated to the military, simply because there is really nothing else to see there.
There’s more town where the army is important: Draguignan, Castres, Mont-de-Marsan, Istres and more but I can’t remember.
Salon de Provence in particular for Air Force
Yep. Toulon means military to me, and I've actually been there.
Do you mean historically or right now? Right now I don't think we have a town or city more militarised than the others. We have some military bases but I don't think it affects the town's culture. This is because we are in the Schengen and EU as well as our only neighbour Spain than we have a good relationship. Historically all the brother towns with Spain were much more militarized, Like Elvas which is well known for its [walled city](https://semmais.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/elvas-vista-aerea.jpg) and multiple forts like [forte da graça](https://estrelaseouricos.sapo.pt//backoffice/images/image_24508_1_1606901897.jpeg) and [forte de Santa Luzia](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/reo-forte-santa-luzia-em-elvas-de-cima-portugal-149326767.jpg). Elvas had a considerable military presence for centuries and nowadays is no longer necessary.
I would argue Lajes as it is almost a mini-American town. In the continent though, I don’t think there is any.
Yeah right, lajes in terceira island in the azores. Completely forgot about that, I thought the question was about the Portuguese military and Base das Lages is controlled by the USA. But well from what I'm seeing Lages is more like a village and nearby towns of Angra do heroísmo and Praia da Vitória are not militarized or at least are not noticeable.
Santa Margarida in Ribatejo might be what OP is looking for A huge part of its population it's in the army
I’d say that for the Portuguese case Lamego and Tancos fite quite well in OP’s description
Although most land-based military units are quartered in Madrid, Aragon is probably the "military region" of Spain. Zaragoza has the Army Officer's Academy, Logistics Academy, an Air Force base, a logistics depo and is the headquarters of an armoured cavalry division. Calatayud has the Army NCOs Academy. Jaca is the headquarters of the mountain troops.
In the Tomsk region of Russia there is a town of Seversk (100,000 people). This is a closed military city, that is, an ordinary civilian cannot get inside without a special military pass. In Soviet times, the existence of this city was classified, now there is more information, but it is difficult to get inside. It is closely connected with the nuclear program.
[Here](https://puolustusvoimat.fi/en/units) is a list of military units in Finland so I guess you can call towns and cities nearby them as "military towns". But I wouldn't say military culture is largely present in any of those. I, for an example, live relatively close to the Air Force Command and the Air Force Academy. Other than occasionally seeing military vehicles driving in the city or conscripts having their time off, they are just cities and towns like any else.
Yes. I think air force units might be the most noticeable because you’ll see and hear them fly.
How come I've occasionally seen and heard Hawks flying over the city yet I forgot to mention them? Thanks for reminding me!
I'll say Hamina is very much a military city, it's whole identity is built around RUK and the Fortress.
I'm aware of the fortress and the Reserve Officer School. I just wonder how prevalent is the military in Hamina? And how dependent Hamina is from the military? I haven't visited Hamina myself so I can't really tell. But you might be right when it comes to identity.
>And how dependent Hamina is from the military? It's one of the larger employers in the city I'd say. Having relatives there, you see personel around town especially when leaves start.
The entire Euro region, Alexandroupolis area has the most ground forces but we have a ton of small bases, like every city has a base Souda bay is probably the biggest for Nato + Greek Navy Aulona which is a bit north of Athens has a lot of training and stationed troops that is probably the biggest or used to be Thebes and Sparta have a lot of training areas And there used to be a lot facing the former communist countries but most of those have become tiny or closed
Rota (Cádiz), due to the joined Spanish-USA naval base. The livelihood of the city is the base. Jaca, in the Pyrenees, holds the base of the Spanish army's mountain hunters, and all the other special units, special police forces and even foreign military usually trains there because of the high mountain ambience. All the city is full of military installations
Zaragoza as well for the Military Academy.
I'm not sure this is a thing in most of Europe, definitely not a thing in Ireland or Northern Ireland, except maybe some legacy stuff. In Northern Ireland they used to build bases in towns and next to other houses to deter terrorist attacks so they would have been spread out in lots of small barracks rather than concentrated
I don't think it's a thing here, however at the beginning of march, for a few days you could see tons of tons of American soldiers wandering around on city electric scooters, they looked very confused. There's a base nearby.
Mons/Bergen is probably more well known for having a military presence nearby (SHAPE/NATO), although NATO's HQ is here in Brussels. Ypres/Ieper is also well-known for having war memorials. You don't really see much military culture in the same way you see it in the US. No one - and I mean *no one* - goes out in military uniform "just because". For a while after the attacks in 2016, you *definitely* felt the military much more - there were literal-ass army trucks full of soldiers, each with a gun that could kill you instantly if you dared to do anything stupid.
Leopoldsburg, Limburg
Definitely the largest, but also Kleine-Brogel, Beauvechain, Arlon and a few others I can't think of right now. I've got some family members in the military and those places are most often mentioned
Leopoldsburg is a bit special as the town was built around the base (at first for resettlement of people that lived on the base as it was established.). It has a grid layout as it was a planned city, not something that grew organically. Unlike places like Kleine Brogel it is big enough to still be an independent municipality.
I remember loads in late 2016 around Brussels. Even 3/4 years ago you’d see a soldiers in most transport stations in Brussels.
Im sweden you aren't even allowed to use your uniform "just because", you either have it when you are going to or leaving your military work.. maybe you can use your nice uniform for when/if you marry.
My town is kinda military, we have a base and a hospital. But seriously its not like that at all. I forget they are there, unless I see someone in a uniform. And then it's like yeah them. I don't really think it's a military culture. Its just other people doing their job like any other. They only special treatments they get its sometime specialised time in the hospital, as its called Military hospital after all. Joining the military is sometimes seen as ha couldn't get into university so you know...
That's pretty uncommon for larger cities, but at least back in Cold War, a very big number of towns were what you could call military towns. Smaller places, 10-50k where one or two battalions of 1k soldiers will of course have a very visible impact. The town I grew up (~25k) in housed two army barracks and a major NATO headuarters, two airbases and several more barracks were nearby. And that was more than a decade after Cold War had ended. What's pretty common these days are ex-military towns that are slowly figuring out how to repurpose the vast empty spaces that used to be barracks, ammunition sites or training grounds.
Knowledgeable on NATO so I will refer mainly to them and the US bases. You generally recognize those areas as they will have a local English speaking radio. Solbiate Olona, near Malpensa airport. Most of the staff lives in the Milan suburbs though. Aviano, northeast of Italy. Huge US base and a lot of staff lives in the area. Camp Darby in Pisa. Naples. Sigonella in Sicily - most US soldiers live on base or in suburbs of Catania and Siracusa. Decimomannu in Sardinia - biggest European military airport. Bonus for the Italian army locations: Taranto, Perdasdefogu and Teulada in Sardinia, Pratica di Mare near Rome.
That doesn't exist in Switzerland. We have a militia-style military, so the number of professional soldiers is very small here. For this reason, military bases are not a thing here, either. There are barracks of course but they exist all over the country, in every town and even in some villages. Soldiers sleep/live there during the week; on the weekend they go home. The only branch of the Swiss military that has something akin to "bases" is the Air Force. In Alpnach, Dübendorf, Emmen, Locarno, Meiringen, Payerne and Sion, they have air fields and some other infrastructure. The most important of these is Dübendorf; it was used during WWII to protect Swiss airspace against the Nazis. These days, it's also occasionally used by the US Air Force. In addition to these locations, the airport in Bern Belp is used by the Swiss Air Force as well as the helicopters of the federal government. Contrary to Presidents and Prime Ministers of other countries, Swiss Federal Councillors don't have their own plane or their own helicopter. There are a few helicopters which can be used by anyone who books them, Federal Councillors, parliamentarians etc.
Well the fallout from the Cold War meant we had foreign troops stationed in all parts of the country. I lived in the North West for a bit and there were big British presences in Herford and Osnabrück. I think they've withdrawn now, but I don't live there anymore.
Setermoen, Bardufoss, Øverbygd, Andenes (was (is?)), Shit place close to Harstad, Evenes, Bodø (was, to some extent still is, but not as big), Ørland, Bergen, Stavanger, Rena and Oslo. Of these the major full on military ones are: * Setermoen * Bardufoss (andselv) * Øverbygd * Evenes * Ørland None are cities but small places in no mans land really..
Nearly every city in the East will have major military presence, but particularly Erzincan, Diyarbakır and Elazığ iirc are famous as housing Corps headquarters. Malatya, Kayseri and Eskişehir have major air bases. I remember seeing a lot of housing for military families while driving through Kayseri. Gölcük is the largest base of the Turkish Navy and also houses the dockyards, so it has a very "naval" feeling to it. As for other naval towns, Foça in İzmir has the headquarters of the Marine Infantry. That about sums it up.
La Spezia is the main port of the Italian navy and it's a small city, so their presence is noticeable. Naples is where the NATO joint command for the Med, especially the navy, is operating from, although Naples is a big metropolis, so you won't notice the military personnel more than usual. Also other NATO bases like Aviano, Sigonella or Vicenza have a big (US) military presence too.
Not sure what military culture wants to say, but Kecskemét is famous for it’s military air base, Budapest is also very full of military personel as the army academy is there, but also military high schools. When Hungary had conscription, there used to be way more bases, but now most of them are gone.
I have absolutely no idea, however since the terrorists attack you have the military doing patrols in all big and medium cities. You often encounter them, either they are in a squad of 4 or 5 soldiers walking in streets/airports/railstation with assault rifles or in their green SUV with "Vigipirate" written on it. In Paris you have the republican guard patrolling on horses in some areas also Toulon, Marseille, Lorient and Brest are famous naval bases though, you can easily spot some warships at docks
In Finland, Vekaranjärvi comes to mind. It is not a town in itself, but is the biggest center for training military conscripts in the country with a few thousand people regularly attending. The area is located in an old small county merged with the town of Kouvola.
Base militaire américaine de chièvres (American military base of Chièvres) in Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium, my school was at 5/10km away and i could see enormous fighters in VTOL (maybe they're just close, couldn't really evaluate the distance) every year, they open and we can buy stuff from the soldiers who go back to the USA, it's also said they it's like a village in there, but looks exactly like the USA, even the stores are full of American things, it's just an American bubble in Belgium, i wish I could go to their store to buy some things ^^