Garrison - Definition and Overview

For people named Garrison, see Garrison (disambiguation).

In the military, garrison is the collective term for the body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base. The station is usually a city, town, fort, castle or similar. For example, the 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry (U.S.) is garrisoned at West Point. Garrison town is a common expression for any town that has a military barracks.

In the modern British Army, garrison specifically refers to any of the major military stations such as Aldershot, Catterick, Tidworth and London, which have more than one barracks or camp and their own military headquarters, usually commanded by a colonel, brigadier or major-general, assisted by a garrison sergeant major.

In Hebrew, the term garrison unit is translated as חיל מצב (cheil matzav), which is a regular unit defending a specified zone such as a city, a province, a castle or fortress, or even a single building.