No doubt you’ve heard the tragic news of the events that unfolded at Fort Hood yesterday, a place so remote and different from our daily lives that we struggled to picture what the largest military base in the U.S. might actually look and feel like. As we always do, we turned to cinema for some answers. We came up with these 12 Movies Set on Military Bases.

Stripes (1981)

Eventually this devolves into a ridiculous Cold War fantasy, but for a while there it’s nothing but classic boot camp comedy.

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Perhaps the most relevant to yesterday’s tragedy, as it concerns a soldier disappearing after returning from Iraq.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Not that the whole film occurs on a military base, but the brilliant man who makes it all happen, Brigadier General Jack Ripper, is barricaded inside an army base which eventually becomes a war zone.

Thousands Cheer (1943)

Gene Kelly plays a trapeze artist whose family is hired to perform for the army (which includes Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball and more), but while on base he falls for the general’s daughter. You can imagine how that works out for him.

The General’s Daughter (1999)

We don’t remember the exact military intrigue of this film, besides that the general (James Cromwell, obvs) from the title had been up to some shady things and tried to cover them up. What we do remember was that it basically seemed like a movie about how being sexual in the military gets you killed.

The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)

Robert Mitchum plays an army con-man during WWII, which would have been a harrowing drama in the 40s, an ensemble melodrama in the 50s, and by the 60s was fodder for comedy.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Speaking of comedy, we couldn’t make a listicle of military movies without mentioning the cinema’s greatest pro-war activist: Michael Bay. You probably won’t ever see a prettier movie about killing soldiers.

Great Guns (1941)

Laurel and Hardy on a military base? The gags practically write themselves.

Suppose They Gave A War and Nobody Came? (1970)

By all accounts an underrated comedy about the tensions between the military and civilians during Vietnam, it’s also got a strong cast including Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine.

A Few Good Men (1992)

The rare military courtroom drama that makes it worth waiting through all the icy stares and clenched jaws.

The Deadly Mantis (1957)

Even though the whole film isn’t set on an army base, obviously (you try keeping a giant praying mantis on-base), there are some rather spectacular sequences of the thing ripping into a northern military outpost.

Blue Sky (1994)

Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange star in this sort of melodrama about the generational clash between military cultures.

Special Bonus: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

It’s just the one scene, but it’s spectacular.