It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.
There was no shortage of cuts proposed in Trump’s budget for 2018, which was released earlier this week.
However, one of the few departments that did not receive a haircut was the Department of Defense. If the proposed budget ultimately passes in Congress, the DoD would be allocated an extra $54 billion in federal funding – a 10% increase that would be one of the largest one-year defense budget increases in American History.
To put the proposed increase in context, the United States already spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined. Meanwhile, the additional $54 billion is about the size of the United Kingdom’s entire defense budget.
Country | Military Spending (2015) | Share |
---|---|---|
United States | $596 billion | 35.8% |
China | $215 billion | 12.9% |
Saudi Arabia | $87 billion | 5.2% |
Russia | $66 billion | 4.0% |
United Kingdom | $55 billion | 3.3% |
India | $51 billion | 3.1% |
France | $51 billion | 3.1% |
Japan | $41 billion | 2.5% |
Germany | $39 billion | 2.4% |
South Korea | $36 billion | 2.2% |
Others | $427 billion | 25.6% |
“Be All You Can Be”
With over half of all U.S. discretionary spending being put towards the military each year, the U.S. is able to have extensive operations both at home and abroad. Our chart for this week breaks down military personnel based on the latest numbers released by the DoD on February 27, 2017.
In total, excluding civilian support staff, there are about 2.1 million troops. Of those, 1.3 million are on active duty, while about 800,000 are in reserve or part of the National Guard.
On a domestic basis, there are about 1.1 million active troops stationed in the United States, and here’s how they are grouped based on branch of service:
Military Branch | Active Domestic Personnel | As a Percentage |
---|---|---|
Army | 394,236 | 35% |
Navy | 283,499 | 25% |
Marine Corps | 149,992 | 13% |
Air Force | 249,738 | 22% |
Coast Guard | 38,659 | 3% |
Total | 1,116,124 | 100% |
Internationally, there are just under 200,000 troops that are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world.
Here are the top 20 countries they are stationed in, as well as an “Other” category that represents the rest:
Rank | Country / Territory | U.S. Troops |
---|---|---|
#1 | Japan | 39,345 |
#2 | Germany | 34,805 |
#3 | South Korea | 23,468 |
#4 | Italy | 12,102 |
#5 | Afghanistan | 9,294 |
#6 | United Kingdom | 8,479 |
#7 | Kuwait | 6,296 |
#8 | Iraq | 5,540 |
#9 | Bahrain | 5,504 |
#10 | Guam | 3,831 |
#11 | Spain | 3,256 |
#12 | Qatar | 2,976 |
#13 | Turkey | 2,234 |
#14 | Djibouti | 1,961 |
#15 | Jordan | 1,759 |
#16 | United Arab Emirates | 1,079 |
#17 | Belgium | 842 |
#18 | Cuba | 806 |
#19 | Romania | 667 |
#20 | Greece | 407 |
Other / Unknown | 34,834 | |
Total | 199,485 |
In 2015, Politico estimated that there are 800 U.S. bases abroad, and that it costs up to $100 billion annually to maintain this international presence.
With peace breaking out all over the world, why do we even need a military?
Maybe something just large enough to keep our domestic bases open and maintained in case we need them again someday, but why anything larger?
Everyone can quit crying about Trump’s increase in military spending. Not only is he offsetting the increase with deep cuts in other areas, but his proposed military budget is far less than obama spent every year for his first four or five years in office. We elected him to fix some things. Let him do it.
39000 troops in Japan? I’m sure we could do with half that amount, same as in Europe roughly 60ooo. Why not take half of these and put them on the mexican border. That might make more sense. plus the added benefit of troops spending more money in the U.S. I actually thought we had more troops in Europe.
I imagine a lot of them, most of them, are not combat troops we think of when we read about troops stationed somewhere.
A lot are support personnel manning everything from repair bases and naval docking facilities to hospitals serving a much wider theater of operations.