Is American Military Base US soil?

Yes.

depends…......on the type of agreement we have with the foreign country hosting us.

Embassies are always us soil, military bases not always

Untrue. Any person born on a US military base anywhere in the world is considered to have been born on US soil.

yes, but they don’t receive US birth certificates but a substitute ;)

US soil implies “sovereignty” over a territory, and that depends on the terms under which you are present in a particular country. NATO countries have agreed not to establish “sovereignty” in partner countries, except for embassies.

Thus, an Army Base in Germany is not US soil, they have to abide by German laws, say e.g. environmental protection stuff, health codes, noise etc.

Rhen tell me why, when my daughter was stationed in Bamberg, Germany, one of the specialists there was arrested by the MP’s for sexual abuse of a small child and court martialed, then sent back to the states?
I just asked my daughter and she said that while on post you are subject to US military law and off base you are subject to both local laws as well as US military law.
She also insists that while on base it was considered US soil.

Yes yes absolutely!!!

But! And here comes the but, The Uniformed Code of Military Justice is applicable to all members of the United States Military regardless of location, even on foreign soil.

Strictly speaking, the UCMJ isn’t even a law, but a code you subject yourself to when you take the oath. It is not a ratified law.

Would he have been on US soil, he would have been at risk to be processed through the UCMJ and probably after that by the civilian authorities. It doesn’t happen very often, but is a possibility.

As I said, it’s semantics really, as most NATO countries have Gentlemen Agreements not to interfere with each other.

In terms of international law though it is significant because, for example, if the Germans would forcefully evict US Forces from an installation that would be a contractual dispute, while forced eviction from an Embassy would be an Act of War.

By the way, this is only about 13 years old, as for 50 years after 1945 Germany was technically “occupied”, thus, the military bases were indeed “sovereign”, and therefore US soil.

Well, I wouldn’t consider myself any expert on US military code and you seem to have done your homework. However, my daughter insists that her base was considered US soil.

that’s well possible. It took me a while too. I only know cause I was a brig chaser for a while and had to pick someone up over there.

In most cases it really is sovereign, but one can’t generalize it and say ALL bases are US soil cause some are really exempt. The rule was really only softened up when all these international task forces like IFOR, SFOR and QFOR faced the problem of deciding whom was in whose jurisdiction. Before all that the answer was pretty flat out, if it has a flag hoisted than that’s whom it belongs to.

I’m a military member (Military Police) and I have been for almost 21 years. Military bases outside CONUS (continental United States) are considered sovereign American territories. Servicemen on those bases, however, are subject to the governing laws of the country they are serving in and they are called SOFA – Status Of Forces Agreements. Not all American bases have these agreements though, such as installations in the Middle Eastern countries where either they haven’t been established or the government won’t agree to or consider such measures.

There are 4 different types of jurisdictions under the UCMJ that we are taught to recognize. They are Exclusive (Federal laws only), Concurrent (Federal and state laws, or Federal and the country laws where the base is), Proprietary (dealing with property issues), and Reciprocal (meaning any military policeman from any branch of service can apprehend any member from any other branch of service for offenses committed).

@Bluefreedom

SOFA!!!!!!!!

That’s what I was looking for!!!!

Thx, great answer