MCAGCC Twentynine Palms

Twentynine Palms is the largest Marine Corps base because no one else wanted this much desert — 932 square miles of Mojave wasteland that the Marine Corps looked at and said 'perfect, we'll take all of it, and we'll make people LIVE here.' The Mojave doesn't have weather — it has a vendetta, a personal grudge against moisture, and summer temperatures that make your vehicle's steering wheel a Geneva Convention violation. Palm Springs is an hour away, full of retirees living your dream life on the other side of a mountain range that might as well be a metaphor for everything separating you from happiness. Joshua Tree National Park is beautiful and right there, mocking you with its Instagram-famous landscapes while you're in the field eating MRE #4 (Veggie Omelet, which the Marine Corps considers food the way war crimes are considered 'incidents'). The town of Twentynine Palms has a Domino's, a Denny's, a couple of vape shops, and the resigned energy of a place that knows exactly what it is and has made peace with it. MCAGCC's Combined Arms exercises are where Marine units come to get absolutely wrecked in force-on-force desert warfare, and the OPFOR Marines who live here permanently have developed a savage joy in the destruction of visiting units' self-esteem. The night sky, for what it's worth, is world-class — zero light pollution means you can see the Milky Way clearly enough to question your place in the universe, which you were already doing.