As of the latest figures, the number of active US troops in countries that we are not at war with is greater than the number of troops we have in countries that we are at war with. Think about that for a second.
As of September 30, 2009 (the most recent figures available at this time), the United States has about 251,000 troops deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or some other current operation, but there are about 263,000 American troops who are not engaged in any of our current wartime operations but who are nonetheless stationed in nearly 150 other countries around the world. Among these, there are over 50,000 American troops stationed in Germany, over 30,000 troops in Japan, nearly 25,000 in South Korea, and nearly 10,000 in the United Kingdom and Italy each. There are five more countries that have over 1,000 American troops in them, and 138 countries that have fewer than 1,000. On top of all that, there is a further 20,000 troops who are afloat on ships at various places around the world. And remember, none of these troops are fighting in any wars. They’re just there.
It is true that September 30th was four months ago now and the specific numbers may have changed slightly since then, but they appear to stay relatively steady over the years judging by past reports. The only major change, if it has even taken place yet, was the president’s announcement that we are going to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. That addition will increase our number of operational troops, but they are more than likely going to be deployed from the 1.1 million active troops on American soil or floating in American waters, so the number of non-operational troops simply stationed around the world will probably not decrease. So the initial statement made above may not be entirely true anymore, but even when all of those extra 30,000 troops are deployed to Afghanistan, we will still have a number of troops stationed around the world that equates to roughly 90% of the number of combat troops we have. That’s still pretty unnecessary, wasteful, etc. But then consider the fact that we are also now withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, so we very well may continue to have more troops in countries we are at peace with than those in countries we are at war with. (see note 1 below)
Either way, having so many active troops stationed all around the world essentially doing nothing (see note 2 below) is incredibly expensive. The annual salaries alone of those 263,000 troops cost American taxpayers almost 14 billion dollars every year at the average military salary of $52,000. Nevermind the cost of training them, housing and feeding them, purchasing and maintaining all their equipment and the bases they stay at, and so on. Thankfully, these are troops stationed in countries that we are not at war with so there shouldn’t be any cost in lives (except in accidents like the American helicopter crash that happened a few days ago in Germany), but the monetary cost is absolutely enormous. This, along with various other things, is the kind of unnecessary expense that bloats our military budget out of proportion.
The United States military budget accounts for over 40% of total global military spending, even though our country’s population makes up only 4.5% of the world population. Over 4% of our GDP is spent on the military, twice the global average of 2%. In dollars, the United States military budget is more than 7 times higher than the next most heavily funded country’s military, which is China’s, but our population is less than a quarter of theirs. Do the math and you’ll discover the US spends about 31 times more money on our military per citizen in the country than China does. Per number of active troops, the US spends about 15 times more than China does.
So what have we learned? The United States has troops placed literally all around the world for no necessary reason, and we spend excessive and unreasonable amounts of money on them. Take a look at what we are doing and you will see that our enemies have every right, and good reason, to accuse us of military imperialism. We must reduce our military budget significantly and we must withdraw our troops from every country we don’t have a good reason for being in. We have got to stop being so provocative.
Notes:
1. It should be said that in a case like Afghanistan, the proper wording is that we are at war in the country, not at war with the country. We are fighting specific people inside the country, not the country as a whole. Afghanistan in general is not our enemy.
2. I full realize that the troops we have in countries we are at peace with are not doing “nothing” as I said, but our presence in most countries is simply unnecessary. Most of the “preserving the peace” arguments are a bunch of bullshit. One cannot make a reasonable argument that rich European countries or Japan (the places we have most of our non-operational troops stationed) can’t afford to protect themselves. They all have militaries of their own. Yes, we do have treaties to help protect certain countries if they should come under attack (like Japan), but having American troops permanently stationed there is just not necessary. Maybe we need to reconsider some of these agreements.
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