The 1945 family-reunification decision created today’s overseas base communities

Evidence

At the heart of the new lifestyle was the Army’s decision in 1945 to allow families to join soldiers in Germany. Today it seems natural for spouses and children to join members of the military at bases worldwide. At the time, this was a radical decision. Traditionally, men in the U.S. military—as in most other militaries—deployed overseas alone. The idea that families might live with them somewhere abroad, let alone on the front lines of the Cold War amid the growing nuclear standoff between East and West, represented a profound change. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 119

Categorization

• XREF: Directly explains why massive Little America communities exist at all, relevant to reader’s research on base demographics and footprint.