Member-only story
What is Tower 22?
PLEASE NOTE: Someone is impersonating me in the comments section of this article. This scammer is using my name and profile photo. Please report this scammer to Medium in the comments. I’ve already submitted a request to Medium Writer Support. For the record, I will never try to send you away from Medium with questionable Telegram links. Thank you, friends!
A Peek into America’s Vast Military Presence Around the World
In the dry expanses of northeastern Jordan, where the stark, yet beautiful, desert landscape converges with the borders of Syria and Iraq, sits a little-discussed American military outpost called Tower 22.
This tiny remote base — recently thrust into the international spotlight following a deadly Iranian drone attack that claimed the lives of three American troops last weekend — embodies the complex tapestry of Middle Eastern geopolitics, American military strategy, and America’s far-reaching network of overseas military installations.
The US operates about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide — the goal is to ensure global stability, respond quickly to crises, and keep conflict well away from American shores.
But what these bases really represent, especially when combined with the Navy’s eleven floating bases, (the supercarriers), is power projection.
It’s one of the reasons why I say that China won’t be able to challenge the US military any time soon; China only has one overseas military base — in Africa. Beyond their own borders, China simply doesn’t have the military infrastructure to assert its national will on other nations.
Some of America’s bases are massive, like Ramstein Air Base in Germany which covers over 5,100 acres and contains upwards of 50,000 US military personnel in the region.
But others, like Tower 22, are exceptionally small.
Situated near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the Jordan-Syria border, Tower 22 serves as a crucial lookout point and operational hub.
Originally a Jordanian border patrol site, the US took over after entering Syria in late 2015.
This is when the US gave it its distinctively American hexagon outpost design. Why hexagon? Hexagonal positions can create interlocking fields of…
