Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base, is one of the loneliest U.S. military assignments in the world. Built on Arctic permafrost, the base hosts 200 troops in Greenland's far north. Its closest neighbor is 75 miles away, a small town called Qaanaaq, population 646. Not that it matters, since the only ways in or out of the base are military flights and a ship that visits once a year.
"You can go to the bowling alley, go to the gym, the community center, I guess," First Lt. Matthew Smokovitz told Stars and Stripes in 2015. "It's like a rinse-and-repeat thing. It's so cold and so dark; where you gonna go?"
