What Do Azerbaijan, Djibouti, and Suriname Have in Common?
They are all a part of the list of countries where the U.S. Military is currently deployed. This is from GlobalPolicy.org. They got the information from the Department of Defense. Note the information is from about 3 years ago, but I don’t have up to date access to the DoD, and if I did the information certainly wouldn’t get posted here. Nevertheless I’m pretty sure this is a fairly accurate representation of the U.S. Military throughout the world.
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote D’Ivoire
Cuba (Guantanamo)
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Diego Garcia
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Korea
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
St. Helena
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Now, I’m not an isolationist, not by any definition of the word, but this is a bit ridiculous even for me. Some of these are remnants of the Cold War, some are because of the “War on Terror,” and some have been there since World War II. We have over 70,000 troops in Germany over 6 decades after World War II. We have over 40,000 in South Korea more than 50 years after the Korean War. (From GlobalSecurity.org)
My basic reason for being upset with this is because I look at things from a fiscal conservative point of view. Our military spending is about twice that of the entire European Union. I complain all the time about the way the government wastes money domestically, but I haven’t really touched this topic yet. Now, I believe that America should keep a very strong military. I have no desire to downsize or anything of the nature. I also think we should continue spending money to develop new technologies and other things of that nature. However, having people in well over 100 countries is seriously overkill.
The money we have spent in Iraq really pales in comparison to the overall budget. The number I continued to hear throughout the campaign was 10 billion a month. That is 120 billion in a year. The budget request for 2009 was over 700 billion. Where is the rest of that money going? Well, much of it is going towards running military bases all around the globe.
I leave you with a quote by Ron Paul from The Revolution:
With a $9 trillion debt, perhaps $50 trillion in entitlement liabilities, and the dollar in free fall, how much longer can we afford this unnecessary and counterproductive extravagance?
Our debt has since passed $10 trillion which only enhances Dr. Paul’s point. This has to stop eventually.
Where exactly are the military bases in Brazil? There seems to be some contradictory information about there being any.
I´m from Uruguay, no EEUU troops here.
And never lesten abaut EEUU troops in Brazil or Argentina. AND Venezuela ??? you don´t read papers?
First, I never said there were bases in each of these countries, only military personal. There are bases in many of them though. As far as Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil are concerned, this information is from the DoD, I didn’t make it up. At the beginning of 2006, they had 13, 28, and 39 U.S. Military personnel respectively. I never said they filled each and every country, only that they are there and don’t need to be.
Many of the troops you cite in such countries as Argentina, Brazil and Suriname are embassy personnel, military attaches, training and liaison personnel, and the like, not combat troops stationed at bases. In that light I think you might agree that we need guards at our embassies abroad. There are foreign troops from practically every country in the world on our soil as well working in the same capacities. I understand and agree with your point to a degree. I just think that you are overstating it a bit.
Excellent post. This really is some incredibly disheartening information.
You first line is “U.S. Military is CURRENTLY deployed.”
Its confuse me, ok on embassy you have military personal, but is not enough to say “Military deployed.”
If it’s so, I can say “Uruguay Military is currently deployed in U.S.” and surely you don’t know where in world is Uruguay.
Certainly you can get a small and more accurate list of countries where U.S. have significant number or militaries troops.
I don’t know Panama, Colombia, Germany, Korea, Japan, IRAK, etc …
You can say “Uruguay Military is currently deployed in U.S.” However, I’ll bet the list of countries Uruguay has troops stationed in isn’t quite as long as this one. I’m just talking about where we have troops throughout the world, and it is a bit ridiculous on any level.
The word “deployed” is misleading. There are no troops deployed in Panama & have not been since noon on 31 December 1999. Of course there are embassy Marines, as there are in all countries with which the US has relations. There are also troops in country on medical, engineering & other civic action activities. The countries welcome them.
Your intended point seemed to be a negative re the US military & you need to be called on that. DOD has public information people who would be happy to clarify information. If your site is not going to have accurate information & hides behind “the DOD said so”, without checking with them as to what exactly do they mean by deployed, stationed, etc., you will lose credibility for any other data. You lost me, for sure.
Ok, maybe deployed is a bit confusing. However, there is a link to my source of information. It is active duty U.S. Military Personnel by country, and only 1 person has clicked on it. It is a .pdf put out by the DoD telling where our military is stationed. Please do not say that I don’t have accurate information without even checking my sources. I never claimed that we have bases in these places, are fighting them or anything of that nature. I only claimed that we have military that is stationed there.
The main reason for U.S. troops being stationed in Korea is to thwart any idea North Korea might have of invading the southern part of the penninsula. With our troops there, the military size is enough to discourage Kim Jong-Il from even attempting such a thing.
I’m not sure if you’re American but I’m addressing this as if you are.
If we should learn from anything shouldn’t we learn from the past and/or our mistakes? Does it impact you at all how horrible war is? How horrible the holocaust was? World War I, II, Vietnam and countless other wars? I would think that a nation as mighty as the USA would protect ourselves and others as much as permitted by making sure we have security for such chaotic events to not take place again on earth? The dropping of the Atom bombs is on the shoulders of the American country. Is it no big deal to have to do that again? We need to make sure we can keep peace and/or protect ourselves in case such an uprising of dictatorship would happen overnight per se? Thats only logic telling us how to prevent the loss of life as much as possible. And that’s only one sense of logic. How many more are there? Why don’t we let out government do what its intended to do. Handle information and make decisions. The people in charge mostly got elected by us right? Don’t we trust their judgments? I’m sick and tired of people complaining about things that benefit us as Americans! That list is long but I trust that there are reasons for all of them. Some might be wrong reasons, but I listed at least one right reason… in my comment.
Finally, the answers that I was looking for! Cheers mate.
Keep up the good work!
lol, US military has base in CHINA???!!!
lol, US military has base in RUSSIA??!!!
lol, US military has base in NORTH KOREA???!!!
common sense, folks, obviously this guy try to amuse the shit outta us.
Maybe you should read the article. it never said we had a base in each of these countries, just military personnel.
@AOFFIRE
What does reading newspapers have anything to do with accurate information? Do you know who the Big 5 are? The point of this whole blog is WHY is the US military in SO many countries of the world!
@tina
I have no doubt that USA have military arround the world but this list is not acurate, because you not have troops in Rusia, in Russia you have a guard in the USA embassy`s door. For you, this enough to say “U.S. Military is currently deployed”??
Otherwise you don’t want embassy??
Search a acurate list of countries where you have troops, Ex: Irak, Afganistan, Germany, Italy, etc…
Ahem…
I am not in Finland and I believe that there are no US troops here.
Actually there are a few marines deployed at the US Embassy to provide security.
I think that this list counts in that kind of US Embassy security, which is a different thing from a military base, since the Embassy is a zone with diplomatic immunity…
I really don’t think that a few marines guarding an embassy constitute a military base.
If all of our troops were brought home we would need facilities for 1 million troops along with bases barracks and ancillary facilities for them.
This way we have other countries provide us with bases and facilities and we have our troops stationed in every corner of the globe for the peace keeping mission of the world which no other country will provide.
This provides us with tremendous power throughout the world which no other country can match now and into the foreseeable future
Other than CIA and “official personnel”, there is not a single uniformed US soldier in Venezuala. Period.
i think you’re misleading the public.Every Country around the world has soldier on her embassies.You can not count them as Us military deployed.With your logic Russian soldiers are stationed in USA :p
I don’t think countries like Venezuela,China,Russia would like to have american soldiers deployed on their soil(except the Marines who guard the embassies).
Deployed = stationed abroad.
This can be for any reason, soldiers are given orders and then deployed to fill out those orders.. this may be for guarding an embassy or diplomat, this may be to provide personnel to NATO or US bases, this many be for active duty in a war zone. You all are confusing what the word deployed means. the author of this article is correct in using the term.
There is no claim that this list of nations all host military bases for the US.. however the US have more than 760 military bases world wide, in addition there are 30 NATO military installations (mostly in Europe) that host US and other troops, as well as domestic bases here in the United States. We also have joint military research facilities in several countries.
The pdf just comes up as a blank screen….
The answer I was looking for to my question is How many troops are there currently in afganistan and iraq! The prez says he will pull out 10,00 by years end!! Isn’t that a drop in the bucket?
I understand what everyone is saying here. And I dont want to come off as some sort of conspiracy theorist or something but come on now. Just because you fellow humans in other countries aren’t SEEING these military personal certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The one argument, “don’t you read the papers?” Are you kidding me? Im with you all, obviously all these countries don’t hold combatant troops deployed for war but read the papers? Im not sure about where you are living but every paper and news program has been completely and utterly bought up and dumbed down.
please read this this:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/04/secert_american_wars
I appreciate the original post, and although the PDF is a broken link I still appreciate it. Im actually sort of surprised at the number of responses almost un fazed by these number and condoning the number of feet we have all over the planet. Im not saying the US military does all wrong but come on people, we arent anywhere unless there is something there for us to take OR we would look like complete and utter monsters if we weren’t assisting a humanitarian crisis.
You forgot to include Timor and Kosovo
Your list also contains the troops that serve in the various US embassies around the world. Using the same princible most of the countries you mention also maintain a military precense in the US.
This isnt true
USA doesnt have any military base in Albania but one in Kosovo.
@Corey
when I say reed news papers don’t mean read Times and watch CNN,I mean read all, the pro USA and the others, you have that read all and extract or intent extract the real information. Here, this post is good but you have to be accurate to be credible.
American military bases in Brazil are at the Amazon
jaja yes, they are stealing water and bananas.
you fools, so many bad things that USA make around the world
and you complain about embassy guards