champpitbull2

I'm a bit late on this one, but I have been kind of busy lately. This article is very misleading. 737 bases around the world? They must be including every consulate, embassy, military exchange program, base, and who knows what else to come up with that number. The US military with all Active Duty, Guard and Reserves combined is around 2 million people. That means if all of those bases overseas had equal amounts of troops they would each have roughly around 2700 troops a piece without any being stationed in the US. As you can see that just isn't possible with many active duty bases in the US that have over 20,000 service members a piece.
A side from being a HUGE economic plus for those countries, they are essential for many of the US missions. Mildenhall, Spangdahlem, Ramstein, Moron, Souda Bay, Kadena, and The Azores, and so on are essential stop over points for US aircraft on there way throughout the world.

We afford that same courtesy to foreign militaries. The street isn't one way. If you venture to many US bases there are members from our allies there in significant numbers. Sheppard AFB trains many pilots for countries throughout NATO. Kirtland AFB trains pilots for numerous countries on flying the F-16. Mcghee Tyson in Tennesee is giving up its mission to train foreign militaries in flying the C-130. A Guard base in Ohio is a main hub for RNAF pilots learning to fly the F-16. That is just a small sample of bases in the US with foreign troops. The US and her allies benifit tremendously from these programs because it allows an exchange of ideas, customs and understanding amongst militaries which is more important than ever with joint military operations going on all over the world in places like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
I was stationed in Germany for 2 years at the only operational NATO base in the world from 1999 to 2001. I had varying experiences with all sorts of people from every country in NATO. Geilenkirchen does not have any on base housing so I lived in a small German town on the Dutdh border. The one thing I learned was to NOT paint every person from every nationality with one brush. Just because a government says one thing doesn't mean the entire population agrees. The highlight of my time there was talking to all of these people from so many walks of life about life. It was funny to sit there with some of my German buddies who grew up in East Germany, and to listen to them tell me how they were once trained to kill and hate Americans. All the while we were at a bar trying to pick up girls together.

My wife is German which is ironic because her father was a Colonel in the Luftwaffe and her mother is from Yorkshire in the UK. I still travel back and forth to Germany and England. I can read the papers and watch the TV and see what the opinion is of the US war in Iraq. But when I meet someone new it seems as though those issues are the last things on there mind.

I have encountered people that have hated me just for being American. Trust me, they have the scars to prove it. As big as those incidences stick out in my mind, I can recall many more times where the people were very welcoming. I have been to 13 different countries and I have had only a few bad experiences.
The media is full of crap. When you get down to talking with a person from another country one on one it becomes obvious that we are more alike than different and that we have many of the same hopes, dreams, aspirations, likes, dislikes and so on. Just look at this forum for proof.

There are cultural differences between the US military members and the countries that host them. Everything isn't roses. However the communities and countries that do host US military bases benifit greatly economiclly, militarily, culturally and socially. So do we.