Surprising facts about American Military Bases
Eshan Maitra
All the military bases around the world combined can make only make 30 average sized American Military Bases. While they possess 800 of these modern bases around every corner of the globe. It only creates a spread-out influence of global power and leadership. But how come they ended up with these massive numbers of bases? It is all in the history of war.
It was believed war is only by mobility, striking power and self-protection. Especially the number of the bases boomed after WWII. After defeating the great Axis power, US conquered many of their African and Pacific bases. They did not expect the people of those places discard Nazi ideas too soon. So, US set up bases around them for the cause of democracy training. Still to this day, there are 50,000 troops in Japan and 54,000 stationed in Germany. Even during and after cold-war US was very much transparent about the massive funding and setting bases around communist countries, to their people. 28500 thousands troops are currently stationed at Korean Peninsula.
May be Naval compound Guantanamo Bay or small drone bases in Horn of Africa, but the numbers and funding that goes to them, is often never talked about. Military Spending data of 2014 says, 2nd highest budget was by China, 129 billion dollars. But US came in first with 580 billion dollars! US taxpayers pay over 70-100 billion dollars. That is the 2nd largest after Department of Defense’s 615 billion dollars yearly budget. They even pay 10-40 thousand more for the soldiers stationed outside US border.
Us law makers also, always thought this was worth for rallying each nation toward democratic stability and support. Now it has become a fixture of strategy of US for holding and ensuring that global presence. Hillary Clinton said this as quote, “American leadership is not just respected, it is required.”