5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, formerly known as and commonly referred to as CFB Gagetown, is a large Canadian Forces Base covering an area over 1100km2, located in southwestern New Brunswick.Construction of the baseAt the beginning of the Cold War, Canadian defence planners recognized the need for providing the Canadian Army with a suitable training facility where brigade and division-sized armoured, infantry, and artillery units could exercise in preparation for their role in defending western Europe under Canada's obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty. The facility would need to be located relatively close to an all-season Atlantic port and have suitable railway connections.Existing training facilities dating from the First and Second World Wars in eastern Canada were relatively small (Camp Debert, Camp Aldershot, Sussex Military Camp, Camp Valcartier, Camp Petawawa, Camp Utopia), thus a new facility was considered. At the same time, regional economic development planners saw an opportunity for a military base to benefit the economy of southwestern New Brunswick.The area under consideration was an expansive plateau west of the Saint John River between the cities of Saint John and Fredericton, measuring approximately 60km in length and 40km in width; more accurately it runs between Oromocto in the north to Welsford in the south, and between the Saint John River in the east and the South Branch of the Oromocto River in the west.
