Having served in the US Army for several years during and
after the Viet Nam era and spending my career in the defense industry, I am one
of the first to support adequate funding for the DoD to support the men and
women we send to do our bidding in foreign lands as well as to stand ready to
defend our borders if and when our leaders (I use the term loosely} should
attempt to defend us from aggression at home.
However, accepting that our last two presidents and our representatives
during that period have acted so irresponsible and piled up a debit that we
will never be able to repay, I am ready for some regrettable but necessary
changes. My first recommendation is that
we close most of our foreign bases.
Maybe Ron Paul finally got through to me. While our efforts to maintain a strong
military presence in Korea for instance is noble and probably has limited North
Korea’s irresponsible leader’s interest in physically invading the South, I am
coming to the realization that we just can’t afford it anymore. Given the current state in our military
technology, I suspect we might actually be in a better position to respond by
having our personnel and assets outside South Korea. We could reinvest a portion of what we spend
on keeping a force in foreign bases each year in additional standoff capability
such as aircraft carriers, in-flight refueling, armed drones, combat airlift
capability, etc. This would improve our already pretty good ability to project
strength anywhere in the world. I am not
for isolation but I am willing to face reality.
Following WW II the world was in disarray and supporting people who
tried to rise up against abusive dictators to improve their standard of living
was a noble cause we could afford. We
got used to being the avenging force around the world righting wrong as we saw
it. We have left fighting forces in
previously hot spots across the globe.
So much so, that we are disliked worldwide in spite of our efforts to
rescue the oppressed, feed the hungry and provide aid to almost anyone who
would seek it. If we take a fresh look
at what we are doing without the burden of the knowledge of how we got here, it
makes no real sense. Does Japan need
such a large force of US military personnel to protect them? Their economy is one of the strongest in the world;
can’t they afford to protect themselves now? Germany is another good example. After all, Germany had threatened the security
of the entire European and African continents and we were called upon to beat
them back into their borders and then to dismantle their military
capability. We did it, but why are we
now responsible for defending Germany against any future aggressor? At one time there was a real threat that
Russia might invade Germany and we needed heavy equipment on the ground to
counter that potential. Even if it is our role to protect them which I don’t
agree with, do we think this threat is still real and is keeping a heavy force
in the way the best way to counter the threat?
I don’t think so. I believe we
became wasteful in this as well as many uses of our resources. Having done the work to establish and build
bases in these areas we felt compelled to keep them. Nice if you can afford, it but sadly we can
no longer afford this. Our financial
situation requires that we face reality, sad we got here but we can no longer
be the police force for the world.
We must focus or now limited resources instead on setting
better examples for people around the world to see what free people can
accomplish using free market principles and smaller government designed to meet
specific missions in support of the citizens vs “managing” citizens to force
compliance to shifting ideologies. Lets
pull back our presence but maintain the capability to defend our interests
around the world. Let the mission of
suppressing the bad actors fall to someone else for a while.
Take a look at the facilities we built and now are paying
to man and maintain, including local national staff and support
contracts for food, cleaning, facilities work, etc.: (my source was Wikipedia)
United States Army
Bulgaria
- Bezmer
Air Base in Yambol Province - Novo
Selo Range in Sliven Province - Aitos Logistics Center in Burgas
Province - Graf Ignatievo Air Base in Plovdiv Province
Germany
- Anderson Barracks, Dexheim
(will reopen) - Artillery Kaserne, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- Askren Manors
Housing Area, Schweinfurt (scheduled to close 2015) - Bamberg Local
Training Area, Bamberg (scheduled to close 2015) - Barton Barracks, Ansbach
- Benjamin Franklin Village, Mannheim
(Scheduled to close December 2012) - Bismarck Kaserne, Ansbach
- Bleidorn
Housing Area, Ansbach - Campbell Barracks, Heidelberg
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Gen. Lucius D. Clay Kaserne
(formerly Wiesbaden Army Airfield, renamed June 14, 2012), Wiesbaden - Coleman Barracks, Mannheim
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Conn Barracks, Schweinfurt
(scheduled to close 2015) - Dagger Complex, Darmstadt
Training Center Griesheim - Funari Barracks, Mannheim
(Scheduled to close December 2012) - Germersheim Army
Depot, Germersheim - Grafenwöhr Training
Area, Grafenwöhr/Vilseck - Hammonds Barracks, Mannheim
- Heidelberg Army
Airfield, Heidelberg - Hohenfels Training Area/Joint
Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels (Upper Palatinate) - Husterhoeh Kaserne, Pirmasens
- Kaiserslautern Military
Community - Katterbach Kaserne, Ansbach
- Kelley
Barracks, Stuttgart - Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern Military
Community - Lampertheim
Training Area, Lampertheim (Scheduled to close 2015) - Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center, Landstuhl - Ledward Barracks, Schweinfurt
(scheduled to close 2015) - Mark Twain Village, Heidelberg
(Scheduled to close 2015) - McCully Barracks, Wackernheim
- Miesau Army Depot, Miesau
- Nachrichten Kaserne,
Heidelberg
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Oberdachstetten
Storage Area, Ansbach - Panzer
Kaserne, Stuttgart - Patch
Barracks, Stuttgart - Pulaski Barracks, Kaiserslautern
- Patrick Henry Village, Heidelberg
(Scheduled to close late 2014) - Patton Barracks, Heidelberg
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Rhein Ordnance
Barracks, Kaiserslautern - Robinson Barracks, Stuttgart
- Rose Barracks, Vilseck
- Rottershausen
Storage Area, Schweinfurt - Sembach
Kaserne, Kaiserslautern - Shipton Kaserne, Ansbach
- Smith Barracks, Baumholder
- Spinelli Barracks, Mannheim
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Storck
Barracks, Illesheim - Stuttgart Army Airfield, Stuttgart
- Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
(Scheduled to close 2014) - Tompkins Barracks, Schwetzingen
(Scheduled to close 2015) - Storage
Station, Mainz-Kastel - Warner Barracks, Bamberg
(Scheduled to close 2015) - USAG
Wiesbaden Military Training Area, Mainz, Gonsenheim/Mombach - USAG Wiesbaden
Training Area, Mainz Finthen Airport - USAG Wiesbaden
Radar Station, Mainz Finthen Airport - Urlas
Housing and Shopping Complex, Ansbach
(converted from Urlas Training Area in 2010-2011) - Yorktown Housing
Complex, Schweinfurt (scheduled to close 2015)
Israel
- The Dimona Radar Facility is an
American-operated radar base in the Negev, staffed
by 120 US military personnel.[1]
Italy
Japan
Kosovo
- Camp
Bondsteel - Camp
Monteith (Closed to the US army since March 2007) - Film City, Pristina
Kuwait
- Ali Al Salem Air Base
- Camp
Arifjan - Camp
Buehring (formerly Camp Udairi) - "K"
Crossing - Camp
Virginia - Camp
Patriot (Shared with Kuwait Naval Base)
South Korea
- Camp Carroll
- Camp Casey
- Camp
Castle - Camp
Coiner - USAG Daegu
- Camp George
- Hannam Village
- Camp Henry
- Camp
Hovey - Camp
Humphreys - Camp Jackson
- Camp Market
- Camp
Red Cloud - Camp
Stanley - Camp Walker
- H220 Heliport
- K-16 Air Base
- Kunsan Pol Terminal
Site - Madison Site
- Masan Ammunition
Depot - Pier #8
- Tango (U.S. Army)
- Yong Pyong
- USAG Yongsan
- Henry Gong
United States Marine Corp
Afghanistan
- Camp
Eggers - Camp
Dwyer - Camp Leatherneck
- Camp
Rhino - FOB Delhi
- FOB
Delaram - FOB Fiddler's Green
- FOB
Geronimo - PB Jaker
Australia
Germany (GR)
Japan (JP)
- Marine Corps Base Camp
Smedley D. Butler, Okinawa. Note: these camps are dispersed
throughout Okinawa, but still under the administration of the MCB complex. - Marine Corps Air Station Futenma,
Okinawa - Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni,
Yamaguchi Prefecture
United States Navy
Bahrain
British Indian Ocean Territory
Brazil
Cuba
Djibouti
Greece
Guam
Israel
- The Port
of Haifa maintains facilities for the United States Sixth Fleet.
Italy
Japan
- Naval Air Facility Atsugi
- Naval Forces Japan, Okinawa
- United States Fleet
Activities Yokosuka - United States Fleet
Activities Sasebo
Kuwait
South Korea
Spain
United Arab
Emirates
United States Air Force
Afghanistan
- Bagram
Airfield - Herat International Airport
- Jalalabad Airport
- Kabul International Airport
- Kandahar International Airport
- Mazar-i-Sharif Airport
- Shindand Air Base
Bahrain
Bulgaria
Germany
Greenland
Guam
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Netherlands
Oman
Portugal
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Turkey
United Arab
Emirates
United Kingdom