FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey ~ 09 JUNE 2026

Serving The Best Troops, Families, And Veterans In The World!! | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey

Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst (JB MDL) is a United States military facility located 18 miles southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. The base is the only tri-service base in the United States Department of Defense and includes units from all six armed forces branches.

The facility is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force's McGuire Air Force Base, the United States Army's Fort Dix and the United States Navy's Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, which were merged on 1 October 2009.

It was established in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The legislation ordered the consolidation of the three facilities which were adjoining, but separate military installations, into a single joint base, one of 12 formed in the United States as a result of the law.

The 42,000-contiguous acres of JB MDL are home to more than 80 mission partners and 40 mission commanders providing a wide range of combat capability.

The base spans more than 20 miles, from east to west. It is situated in the two largest counties in New Jersey, Burlington and Ocean, and includes portions of eight municipalities: the borough of Wrightstown and the townships of New Hanover, North Hanover, Pemberton, and Springfield, in Burlington County, and the townships of Jackson, Manchester, and Plumsted in Ocean County.

The 87th Air Base Wing provides installation management support for 3,933 facilities. More than 44,000 airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, Coast Guardsmen, civilians, and their family members live and work on and around JB MDL.

The base originated in 1941 as Fort Dix Army Air Force Base. Closed briefly after World War II, it reopened in 1948 as McGuire Air Force Base. The base was named after Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr., Medal of Honor recipient, and the second leading ace in American history.

McGuire grew famous as the Air Force's "Gateway to the East", when its core mission became global mobility in 1945. In 1992, it became part of the newly reorganized Air Mobility Command.

The 305th Air Mobility Wing served as the host wing from October 1994 to March 2009, when the newly activated 87th Air Base Wing assumed installation command. The 305th, along with the 108th Air Wing (ANG), 621st Contingency Response Wing, and the 514th Air Mobility Wing (AFRES), has supported every major type of air mobility mission over the past 15 years.

The facility originated in 1917 as Camp Dix, named in honor of Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and a former United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury and Governor of New York. It was renamed Fort Dix in 1939.

Dix has a history of mobilizing, training and demobilizing Soldiers from as early as World War I through the present day. In 1978, the first female recruits entered basic training at Fort Dix. In 1991, Dix trained Kuwaiti civilians in basic military skills so they could take part in their country's liberation.

Lakehurst history begins as a munitions-testing site for the Imperial Russian Army in 1916. It was then gained by the United States Army as Camp Kendrick during World War I. The United States Navy purchased the property in 1921 for use as an airship station and renamed it Naval Air Station Lakehurst.

The Navy's lighter-than-air program was conducted at Lakehurst through the 1930s. It was the site of the 1937 LZ 129 Hindenburg airship disaster. During World War II, anti-submarine patrol blimps were operated from Lakehurst.

Since the 1950s, Aviation Boatswain's Mates have been trained at Lakehurst to operate catapults and arresting systems on aircraft carriers. Lakehurst conducts the unique mission of supporting and developing the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment and Support Equipment for naval aviation.

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and the Advanced Arresting Gear system that will replace the existing steam catapults and the Mk-7 arresting gear are being developed and tested at Lakehurst at full-scale shipboard representative test facilities.

Learn More About Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst HERE!!

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: canteen

[PROCON]

Thanks for tonight’s Road Trip, Lauren!

[luvie]

~ Road Trip: Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey ~

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[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

[lightman]

Happy Monday Garden State motoring!

[laurenmarlowe]

Howdy PROCON!

[lightman]

Beat me by four seconds!

[laurenmarlowe]

Good evening to you luvie!

*HUGS*

[laurenmarlowe]

Hi radu and thank you!

*HUGS*

[laurenmarlowe]

Howdy lightman, great to see ya!

[radu]

Howdy, lauren.

Nice to see things are calm over TX today. Been a little wild and wolly the past several days.
It’s moving over here now. LOL

[luvie]

Hi there, lauren! (((hugs))) Hope this heat isn't melting you. If it's this hot now, what on earth is it going to be like in July and August. Ugh!

[radu]

Howdy, luvie.

Life feel like it’s getting back on track today?

[radu]

Luck of the click button. LOL

[laurenmarlowe]

I am howling here, that’s the funniest picture I have seen all day. FACE DOWN, LOL!!

That’ exactly how I feel at this moment, about to be face down, up wayyyyyy too late last night and out the door too early.

Plus, yes, it’s dang hot and steamy here, and not in a sexy way, LOL!

Y’all have a terrific Tuesday!

[radu]

It isn’t that hot here yet but by Wed. our heat index will be triple digits. It was 84 this afternoon when I headed out for a quick store run, but when I stepped out the door it felt like I slammed into a wall. THICK, sticky air. Temps will be hotter this week and with the humidity, it’s going to be stay-inside-a-lot time.

NOT looking forward to July and August.

[luvie]

ROFL ......that’s how I feel every time that thermometer reaches over 90 degrees. it perfectly describes my angst.

I think we’re all already tired of it, huh.

[luvie]

ugh! triple-digit heat indexes? That kind of humidity is exactly what I dreaded every summer in Georgia! It’s bad enough here that the wind at these high temperatures literally burns the skin without not being able to breathe!

[luvie]

You have a terrific Tuesday, too, lauren. Get some rest already! Nighty-night!

[Feckless]

Spent almost three years at Ft Dix, 88-91 with my wife who was a Drill Sgt. Volunteered for Desert Storm, leaving my 1SG position. Not my favorite duty station but lots of great folks there.