BRING THEM HOME.

As a member of The American Legion, I get The American Legion magazine. In the February 2008 issue of The American Legion magazine is an article that explains that nearly a half-million U.S. military personnel are deployed today outside the U.S.
American military personnel are deployed as follows: Kyrgyzstan 1,000; Diego Garcia 240+; Singapore 116; Republic of Korea 27,114; Thailand 114; Japan 50,000; Philippines 111; Australia 711; Hawaii 35,874; Guam 2,828; Iraq 168,000; Egypt 425; Kuwait 16,500; Saudi Arabia 274; Afghanistan 24,800; United Arab Emirates 87+; Qatar 512; Bahrain 1,369; Greenland 138; United Kingdom 10,152; Germany 58, 894; Portugal 865; Spain 1,410; Belgium 1,379; Netherlands 562; Italy 10,216+; Bosnia-Herzegovina 207; Kosovo/Serbia 1,395; Czech Republic To Be Determined; Poland 200+; Turkey 1,668; Romania <900; Bulgaria <2,500; Greece 354; Djibouti 2,038; Other Africa 300+; Honduras 412; Cuba 903; Southern Command 5,000; Colombia 124+; Puerto Rico 144; Alaska 19,957; Canada 143; Continental United States 876,378; Afloat (personnel at sea or in temporary ports) 115,800+.
Isn't it strange how, with the Cold War over, the U.S. military just keeps growing and occupying more and more countries? After the British Empire collapsed, the British Colonial Office did the same thing, it just kept on growing. Bureaucracy has a life of its own, and it will continue to grow, regardless of whether the problem that it was created to solve is growing or shrinking. We have too many troops abroad in too many countries overseas. It is time to be bringing the American troops home. Sure, we need to keep a strong military and a strong navy, but it should be in proportion to any reasonable threat. We should have Senate hearings to determine how many people consider themselves enemies of the United States, and what size military and naval forces we need to protect our homeland against such people. Now that the Cold War is over, we should be bringing many American troops home, while retaining a strong military presence where our treaties obligate us to show a strong military presence.