Mountain Home AFB, ID

Mountain Home AFB is an Elmore County census-designated place in southern Idaho, about twelve miles southwest of the city of Mountain Home. The base sits where the high desert opens into a very large training landscape, with the Owyhee and Ada County edges part of the surrounding map. Mountain Home Air Force Base opened in 1943 as a World War II bomber-training field, later served as a Strategic Air Command bomber and missile base, and moved into the fighter era in 1966. The nearby city grew from Rattlesnake Station and the Oregon Short Line railroad, so base life and town life have always been linked without being the same place.

The 366th Fighter Wing now makes Mountain Home a home for F-15E Strike Eagles, with the 389th and 391st Fighter Squadrons and the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s 428th Fighter Squadron training and operating from the installation. The base also works with the Mountain Home Range Complex, a roughly 7,412-square-mile training area that gives aircrews room to practice electronic warfare and other combat scenarios. Housing, schools, local jobs, range access, and the long drives across southern Idaho shape everyday life. The local nickname, “Gunfighters,” fits the place: this is a high-desert airfield town organized around readiness, aircraft, and a very big sky.