“The only justifiable reason would be to have a place to send sad sacks that you want to punish.”
In the Navy it was Adak, Alaska.
For the Army, Ft Richardson Alaska. TR’s monumentally screwed up son Kermit shot himself to death there in 1943 after FDR had him sent there at the request of his family to keep him from causing some publicity disgrace in the states.
All you have to do is look at a map. Its support for counter-terrorism operations in sub-Saharan Africa and as staging area to support shipping route protection - the Europe to South Africa link.
Should we be doing it? That’s a different question!