The military of the United States is deployed in most countries around the world, with approximately 160,000 of its active-duty personnel stationed outside the United States and its territories.[1] This list consists of deployments excepting active combat deployments, including troops in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia.[2]

Outside of active combat, US personnel are typically deployed as part of several peacekeeping missions, military attachés, or are part of embassy and consulate security. Nearly 40,000 are assigned to classified missions.[3]

Rationale

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: old sources. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2022)

Statements by U.S. military and government

A longstanding justification for maintaining military installations worldwide for the United States is that a military presence abroad by the U.S. promotes and strengthens democracy.[4]

Statements by others

According to Hermann and Kegley, military interventions have boosted democracy in other nations.[5] The majority of academics, however, concur with professor of international politics Abraham Lowenthal that American efforts to spread democracy have been "negligible, often counterproductive, and only occasionally positive."[5][6][7]

JoAnn Chirico believes that the U.S. military presence and installations are often considered responsible for suppressing democracy in countries such as Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.[4]

In her essay, "Dictatorships and Double Standards", Jeane Kirkpatrick argued that although the United States should encourage democracy, it should be understood that premature reforms may cause a backlash that could give the Communists an opportunity to take over. For this reason, she considered it legitimate to support non-communist dictatorships, adding that a successful and sustainable democratic process is likely to be a long-term process in many cases in the Third World. The essence of the so-called Kirkpatrick Doctrine is the use of selective methods to advance democracy in order to contain the wave of communism.[8]

Current deployments

The following regional tables provide detail of where personnel from six branches of the US military are currently deployed. These numbers do not include any military or civilian contractors or their dependents. Additionally, countries in which US military are engaged in active combat operations are not included. The numbers are based on the most recent United States Department of Defense statistics as of December 31, 2023.[1]

Americas

Jurisdiction Total Army Navy USAF USMC USCG USSF
 United States
(excl. Alaska & Hawaii) 		1,060,367 363,235 277,055 244,590 132,761 34,402 8,324
 Alaska 20,977 10,660 42 8,526 19 1,716 14
 Puerto Rico 659 – 41 23 23 572
–
Guantanamo Bay 569 112 418 – 33 6
–
 Honduras 386 246 2 128 9 1
–
 Canada 156 29 38 67 14 5 3
 Greenland 139 – – 113 – – 26
other 688 127 138 77 289 55 2
Total 1,083,941 374,409 277,734 253,524 133,148 36,757 8,369

East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Pacific Ocean

Jurisdiction Total Army Navy USAF USMC USCG USSF
 Japan 55,423 2,353 19,761 12,524 20,687 21 77
 Hawaii 44,413 18,886 12,372 5,423 6,237 1,336 159
South Korea 23,813 15,294 352 7,849 251 1 66
 Guam 6,456 1 3,811 2,242 117 283 2
 Australia 582 48 86 114 322 3 9
 Philippines 284 11 10 9 251 3
–
 Singapore 242 13 168 23 29 9
–
 Thailand 107 33 10 24 40 –
–
other 401 75 38 28 253 7
–
Total 131,721 36,714 36,608 28,236 28,187 1,663 313

Europe

US military bases in Germany in 2014
Jurisdiction Total Army Navy USAF USMC USCG USSF
 Germany 35,125 21,309 408 12,807 439 10 152
 Italy 12,408 4,126 3,369 4,770 118 1 24
United Kingdom 9,994 172 285 9,431 42 13 51
 Spain 3,254 32 2,740 387 94 1
–
 Belgium 1,105 586 91 390 36 – 2
 Netherlands 423 118 30 226 17 30 2
 Greece 397 11 333 24 29
–
 –
 Poland 249 112 93 31 13
–
 –
 Portugal 236 5 44 170 17
–
 –
 Norway 226 21 12 38 154 1
–
 Finland 141 3 3 3 132 –
–
 Romania 131 19 89 12 11 –
–
other 561 126 50 128 250 6 1
Total 64,250 26,640 7,547 28,417 1,352 62 232

West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Indian Ocean

Jurisdiction Total Army Navy USAF USMC USCG USSF
 Bahrain 3,569 15 2,833 20 331 370
–
 Turkey 1,742 126 6 1,575 35 –
–
 Kuwait 551 442 2 35 72 –
–
 Djibouti 341 2 2 2 334 1
–
 Qatar 324 93 6 162 46 – 17
 Saudi Arabia 267 159 15 52 34 7
–
Diego Garcia 211 – 211 – – –
–
 Egypt 175 124 9 21 21 –
–
United Arab Emirates 166 26 20 57 63 –
–
 Israel 110 60 8 12 30 –
–
 Jordan 109 61 5 12 31 –
–
other 1,084 192 75 108 709 –
–
Total 8,649 1,300 3,192 2,056 1,706 378 17

Unspecified

Jurisdiction Total Army Navy USAF USMC USCG USSF
Overseas
(incl. unincorporated US territories) 		5,380 1,147 6 1,126 3,081 3 17
Domestic
(50 states and District of Columbia) 		8 8 – – – –
–
Total 5,388 1,155 6 1,126 3,081 3 17

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Number of Military and DoD Appropriated Fund (APF) Civilian Personnel By Assigned Duty Location and Service/Component (as of December 31, 2023)". Defense Manpower Data Center. February 7, 2024.
  2. ^ "Letter to the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate regarding the War Powers Report". whitehouse.gov. December 7, 2023.
  3. ^ "America's Forever wars". New York Times. 23 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b Chirico 2014, p. 70.
  5. ^ a b Hermann, Margaret G.; Kegley, Charles (1998). "The U.S. Use of Military Intervention to Promote Democracy: Evaluating the Record". International Interactions. 24 (2): 91–114. doi:10.1080/03050629808434922.
  6. ^ Lowenthal, Abraham (1991). The United States and Latin American Democracy: Learning from History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 243–65.
  7. ^ Peceny, Mark (1999). Democracy at the Point of Bayonets. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 183. ISBN 0-271-01883-6.[dead link]
  8. ^ Wright 2007, p. 29.

Further reading

Category