Your military career took you to bases, ships, and installations across the country and overseas. Now you need to list where you worked on a resume — and military addresses don't look like civilian ones. APO boxes, ship hull numbers, and installation names confuse employers who expect to see "Company Name, City, State."

I dealt with this after separating from the Navy. My service record included naval station, ship assignments, and overseas tours. None of it translated to a standard resume format. The fix turned out to be simpler than I expected, and it's the same advice we give every veteran who builds a resume through BMR.

This guide covers the exact format for every branch — Army posts, Navy ships and stations, Marine bases, Air Force and Space Force installations, and Coast Guard stations. You'll learn how to handle overseas duty stations, APO/FPO addresses, and the differences between federal and private sector formatting.

The short answer: use your installation name and city/state. Skip unit designations, skip APO codes, and make it look like every other employer address on a civilian resume.

Should You Use Your Military Base Address or Home Address?

Two different things serve two different purposes on your resume. Your contact address at the top of your resume should be your current home address — or the city you're targeting for jobs. Your employer address in the work experience section should reflect where you were stationed.

Your contact address tells employers where to reach you. If you're still on active duty at Fort Liberty but job hunting in Dallas, list Dallas, TX as your contact city. Employers assume you'll relocate from your listed address, and a local address gets more callbacks than one 1,200 miles away.

Here's how it looks on an actual resume:

John Smith
Dallas, TX (your contact address)
(555) 123-4567
[email protected]

EXPERIENCE
Operations Manager | United States Army, Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC | 2020-2022
(your employer address)

For work experience, list each duty station under your employer line.

Clean, professional, and immediately recognizable to any recruiter or ATS system.

How Do You Format Army Duty Station Addresses?

Army addresses are the most straightforward. Use the post name and its city/state:

• United States Army | Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC

• United States Army | Fort Cavazos, Killeen, TX

• United States Army | Fort Campbell, Clarksville, TN

• United States Army | Fort Moore, Columbus, GA

• United States Army | Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, WA

Don't include your unit designation. "1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division" is clear to you, but a civilian employer needs to see where you worked, not your unit lineage. They need to know where you worked, not which unit you belonged to.

If you held multiple positions at the same installation, list them under one employer entry with separate role descriptions. If you PCS'd to a different post, that becomes a new entry with the new location.

For overseas Army installations, use the country instead of a state abbreviation:

• United States Army | Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek, South Korea

• United States Army | USAG Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany

• United States Army | Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

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How Do You List Navy and Marine Corps Addresses?

Navy addresses get complicated because you might have served at a shore command, on a ship, or both. Here is how to handle each scenario.

Navy Shore Commands

Shore commands follow the standard format:

• United States Navy | Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA

• United States Navy | Naval Base San Diego, San Diego, CA

• United States Navy | Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL

• United States Navy | Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia Beach, VA

Navy Ships

For ships, use the ship name and homeport city:

• United States Navy | USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), San Diego, CA

• United States Navy | USS Bataan (LHD-5), Norfolk, VA

Include the hull number for specificity, but it is optional. What matters is the homeport — that is the location a civilian employer understands. If you deployed, list the homeport, not the deployment location. Deployments are temporary assignments, like a civilian employee traveling to client sites.

Marine Corps

Marines follow a similar pattern — base name and city:

• United States Marine Corps | Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, CA

• United States Marine Corps | Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, NC

• United States Marine Corps | MCAS Miramar, San Diego, CA

• United States Marine Corps | Marine Barracks Washington, Washington, DC

For overseas Marine installations:

• United States Marine Corps | Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan

• United States Marine Corps | MCAS Iwakuni, Iwakuni, Japan

What About Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard Addresses?

Air Force

Air Force addresses use the base abbreviation civilians generally recognize:

• United States Air Force | Eglin AFB, Fort Walton Beach, FL

• United States Air Force | Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, TX

• United States Air Force | Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH

• United States Air Force | Ramstein AB, Ramstein, Germany

Include "AFB" or "AB" in the name — it adds context and most civilians understand "Air Force Base."

Space Force

Space Force follows the same pattern since most installations were previously Air Force bases:

• United States Space Force | Peterson SFB, Colorado Springs, CO

• United States Space Force | Vandenberg SFB, Lompoc, CA

• United States Space Force | Buckley SFB, Aurora, CO

"SFB" stands for Space Force Base. Since the branch is newer, some hiring managers may not recognize the abbreviation. Writing "Space Force Base" in full is a safe option.

Coast Guard

• United States Coast Guard | Station Cape May, Cape May, NJ

• United States Coast Guard | Base Seattle, Seattle, WA

• United States Coast Guard | Air Station Clearwater, Clearwater, FL

• United States Coast Guard | Coast Guard Island, Alameda, CA

For Coast Guard cutters, use the Navy ship format with the homeport:

• United States Coast Guard | USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750), Alameda, CA

How Do You Handle APO/FPO and Overseas Addresses?

This is where most veterans trip up. APO (Army Post Office), FPO (Fleet Post Office), and DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) are mail routing codes. They exist so the postal system can deliver to military installations overseas. They are not physical locations, and they do not belong on your resume.

If you're currently stationed overseas and don't have a stateside civilian address yet, use your installation's city and country on your resume contact section instead of the APO/FPO code. For example, if you're stationed at Ramstein Air Base, list "Ramstein, Germany" on your resume, not "APO AE 09012." This gives hiring managers a clear geographic reference point.

Here is what to use instead:

If you cannot remember the city name for an overseas base, a quick search will turn it up. Every installation has an associated city.

For deployments to forward operating bases or temporary locations, list your permanent duty station — not the deployment site. Your employer was the military branch at your home station. The deployment was an assignment from there, the same way a consultant would not list every client office as a separate employer.

How Do You Handle Joint Base and Multi-Branch Installations?

Joint bases host multiple branches at one installation, which creates a common formatting question. The rule is straightforward: list your branch as the employer, and the joint base as the location.

• United States Army | Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, WA

• United States Air Force | Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, TX

• United States Navy | Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, HI

• United States Army | Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, AK

The "joint" part matters less to employers than the city and state. A hiring manager in Seattle recognizes "Tacoma, WA" — they do not need to know that JBLM combines a former Army post and an Air Force base. If the full joint base name makes your resume line too long, abbreviate to "JBLM" only if you spell it out on first use.

A tenant unit is a small military command stationed at a major installation run by a different branch. For example, a Navy command might operate out of an Army post. In these cases, always list your branch and the installation where you actually worked, even if the combination looks unusual on paper. The installation name tells hiring managers where you were stationed, which is what matters.

If you were a Navy Sailor stationed at a primarily Army post as a tenant command, you might list "United States Navy | Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC" — which looks unusual but is accurate. A brief parenthetical like "(Naval Consolidated Brig)" can add context if the assignment seems incongruent with the base.

Installations That Changed Names

In July 2023, the Army renamed nine installations following recommendations from the Naming Commission. The five primary renames that affect most veterans are shown below. Use the current name on your resume regardless of when you served there. Civilian employers search for current installation names, so listing the old name could cause confusion.

Fort Bragg is now Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC

Fort Hood is now Fort Cavazos, Killeen, TX

Fort Benning is now Fort Moore, Columbus, GA

Fort A.P. Hill is now Fort Walker, Bowling Green, VA

Fort Lee is now Fort Gregg-Adams, Prince George, VA

For the complete list of all nine renamed installations, visit the Army's official website.

Does Address Format Change for Federal vs Private Sector Resumes?

Yes. Federal resumes through USAJOBS require more detail than private sector applications.

Private Sector Format

Keep it clean and simple:

United States Army
Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC
[Job title, dates, bullets]

City and state is all you need. No ZIP code, no supervisor info, no hours per week.

Federal Resume Format (USAJOBS)

USAJOBS asks for additional detail on each position:

• Employer name

• City, State, ZIP code (or City, Country for overseas)

• Supervisor name and phone number

• Hours per week

• Whether they can contact the supervisor

For federal applications through USAJOBS, you need the installation's ZIP code. Large installations may have multiple ZIP codes depending on your specific command location. Use the main installation ZIP code, or contact your old command's personnel office if you need the exact ZIP code for your duty location. USAJOBS is strict about this field, so get it right.

The supervisor line is unique to federal resumes. USAJOBS requires your direct supervisor's name, title, and phone number. Translate military rank to a civilian equivalent if possible (for example, "Captain" becomes "Operations Manager"). If you can't reach your supervisor or they've separated from the military, write "Supervisor has separated from military" rather than leaving the field blank. Federal hiring managers will need supervisor contact information for reference verification, so provide accurate information.

Conclusion

Listing military experience on a resume is simpler than most veterans make it. Use your installation name and city/state for work experience entries. Use your current home address or target city as your contact address. Skip unit designations, skip APO/FPO codes, and format it like every other employer entry a civilian recruiter would see.

If you worked as a contractor or Department of Defense civilian on a military installation, list the contractor or employer name instead of the military branch. For example, use "Raytheon Technologies, Fort Liberty, Fayetteville, NC" rather than "United States Army, Fort Liberty, NC." This makes it clear you were an employee of the contractor, not active military

For federal positions, add the ZIP code and supervisor details that USAJOBS requires. For private sector, keep it minimal — installation name, city, state.

If your base was renamed, use the current name. If you deployed, use your home station. If you served on a ship, use the homeport. These rules apply to every branch, every rank, every duty station.

BMR's Resume Builder formats your duty station addresses automatically based on your branch and service history. But whether you use a tool or write it yourself, the principle is the same: make it readable by someone who has never set foot on a military installation.