The Race is On: States Compete to Host Hegseth’s ‘Next Great American Base’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants states to compete for the Next Great American Base. In a Sept. 30 memo, Hegseth ordered a nationwide competition to pick the site. The memo asks for a “highly hardened joint military installation within the Homeland,” meaning a base shared by more than one branch of the military. In a speech at Quantico, Virginia, that same day, Hegseth said the base would hold 15,000 to 25,000 troops.

The memo gave Pentagon officials 14 days to draft a plan for picking the site. That deadline passed Oct. 14, and the plan hasn’t been made public. The memo also doesn’t specify where the base will go, how much it will cost, or when it will open.

It doesn’t say where the troops will come from, either. But Hegseth might have already hinted at the answer.

Troops Are Already Leaving Europe

During that same speech, Hegseth said,

“When we bring the troops home, we won’t just reshuffle troops onto legacy posts. We are going to build them beautiful new bases from the ground up.”

Three days later in Colorado Springs, he got more specific. Some capabilities leaving Europe could go “back home to the big, beautiful base that we’re going to build that we announced a couple of days ago,” Hegseth told reporters, The Hill reported. Other troops could shift to Central and South America, where the military is focused on drug cartels.

If you’re stationed in Europe, the cuts have already started. About 80,000 U.S. troops serve there, NBC News reported Sept. 18. The Trump administration has announced plans to pull out at least 9,000 troops since October 2025, and possibly up to 13,000, according to a July report from the Congressional Research Service.

More could follow. In June, Hegseth announced a six-month review of troop levels in Europe. Officials are evaluating cuts of 25,000 to 40,000 troops, NBC reported. Germany, Italy and Spain could see the biggest changes.

The Pentagon did not answer two requests for comment on how many of the new base’s troops would come from Europe.

Either way, a new base is years in the making.

A New Base Won’t Be Ready Soon

You may be wondering how many years it will take. Military construction can take five to seven years or more, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Congress can also slow big cuts in Europe. Under Section 1249 of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon can’t use funds to keep troop levels in Europe under 76,000 for more than 45 days without certifying the move to Congress.

About 80,000 troops serve in Europe. A cut of 25,000 or more would fall well below that line.

So you have time. But when a new base grows, the town around it feels it first.

Housing Feels the Squeeze First

“Housing is typically the first and most immediate challenge, particularly in communities where affordable housing is already limited,” said Matt Borron, executive director of the Association of Defense Communities.

Borron said housing, child care, schools, and health care are all connected, so military leaders and local communities should start planning together early.

The strain doesn’t end with new arrivals.

“These impacts aren’t limited to newly arriving families; military families already stationed there, as well as civilian residents, can find themselves competing for the same limited resources,” he said.

Planned well, that growth can also bring economic opportunity to a town, Borron said.

He also advised the Pentagon to bring defense communities into planning from the start. And instead of one massive base, he said the department “may want to consider building a few smaller, more geographically dispersed installations,” depending on what the mission requires.

For troops and families, the work starts before orders do.

How to Get Ahead of the Move

If a move to the Next Great American Base is even a possibility, don’t wait.

“Start researching housing availability and connecting with installation family support services as soon as a potential assignment becomes known, rather than waiting until orders are finalized,” Borron said.

And don’t count on the community to be ready.

“Don’t assume that because a military installation is growing, the surrounding community already has the capacity to accommodate that growth,” he said.

There are two things to watch for next. The first is the Pentagon’s plan for picking the base site, which was due Oct. 14 and still isn’t public. The second is the final result of the six-month Europe review that began in June. Those will show which troops could move, and where.

Until those two updates come out, your orders stay the same.