I believe the investment in those bases is worth it. If we don’t have another major war for 100 years, I’ll believe that the global American base presence played a role in that
Disagree. I've been a proponent of more Virginia Class Submarines since the first one was launched. Looks like there will eventually be over 40. GOOD! Next. Replace every Nimitz carrier one-for-one with a Ford class. Bring back the escort carrier with rotary wing and vertical take-off aircraft and keep building them until there is no place to put more. Increase the size of the Marine Corp and begin to decrease the size of the Army. Our theater of operations globally should be the oceans and above the atmosphere. The Army should be a support / logistic capability with no means to occupy or establish permanent operations abroad. Incrementally close foreign bases and move those investments to outer-space. Adopt a policy of armed neutrality responding to direct threats with quick, devastating attacks and GET OUT! Inform our friends of this type of help BUT, if they are about antagonizing their neighbors or our enemies, tough, you're on your own. Build your own military capability to replace the leaving US presence...or not...up to you.
Hey man, love your videos! I'm a US Army vet and worked with some British troops in Afghanistan. I just found your channel and have been binge watching! Keep it up brother!
When I think back to WWI and WWII I remember how long it took to build up men and equipment and supplies for each of these wars. Plus we had to get all of that transported to the UK and I’m sure other locations before we could actually join into each of these wars. So, having bases and infrastructure already in place would certainly help with the logistics.
The USA has well over a hundred classified to super secret bases as well. Thank God for the US military to help keep the world safe. I am also retired military and have been all over the world. Absolutely love the travel and the chance to get to know others.
@J K There are blacksites all over that are used to hold and detain prisoners of value or importance to the U.S. Those blacksites ship to guantanamo. How do I know this? I was a 31E, which is an MP who works with prisoners and detainees for transport to and fro america and other prisons abroad that you didn't know exist. Note: I dont know where it is. Nor was I there in any capacity. Only that I've heard about it from soldiers who were in the know when I was preparing for the possibility to go to one. It fell through because of petty reasons, so I never went.
The US asks for bases. While Chinas Belt and Road project drives countries towards bankruptcy. Saw Angola regretting its decision to agree to Chinese deals on improving their infrastructure.
All that debt diplomacy from China. When China says they are building anything for non military purposes (islands in the South China Sea, ports, airports, rail in other countries), it can always be leveraged by the PLA since the CCP always has a stake in any Chinese company.
That’s what China want they offer all this money to improve a country and let them get so far into debt they can’t pay then China moves in and starts taking resources as justification for payment.
the CCP figured that since they "understand" how the west works (with money) that they can do the same everywhere problem is the CCP has recently pissed the world off, namely the west, and the more they try to sugarcoat everything the angrier the west gets and when the west is angry money is no longer effective
Just ask the Philippines how China just say "mine" and built a military installation overnight, harass local fisherman and coast guard, sinks a couple of boat and bans Filipinos from fishing or getting close to "their" islands.
@@ericl5973 That's why I avoid buying anything from China, if at all possible. The RoC makes just as good, if not better, alternatives. Or the RoK, or Japan, or ....many others.
Aside from military preparation in the event of war, a lot of these bases are used to store essentials in the event of a crisis such as a natural disaster. For example the marine corps is meant to be able to respond to a disaster anywhere around the world in around 48hrs
I like to think that the UK, France (allies in our revolution, even if only because they believed they could conquer us later), Germany (for efforts to free East Germans from communist rule and unify Germany), Canada (our friendly neighbors to the north with a similar "settled by pioneers" background), Japan (strongest Pacific alliance, despite being former enemies at war), and a few eastern European nations would always be dependable allies due to our former shared camaraderie. But then there's Russia. We allied with them to end the Axis powers in WW2, then they immediately became our strongest state enemy, and have remained so since then.
@@Barefoot433 Not anymore, AMerican ancestors d, but by the present we're so different now. THe UK is an ethnically white country, the US is a "melting pot". Whether it's white Europeans, Latinos from Mexico, decendents or African slaves, or Asian or other ethnic workers who cam here to find a new life in the immigration boom of the 1900s. America is now one of the most unifying countries thanks to our diverse backgrounds. Most other nations no part of North or South AMerica can tie their citizens to an ethnic origin, the US not so much.
As a former U.S. Marine, I have to say I really enjoy your videos. I tell people all the time, my best experiences with other countries services were the British Royal Marines and the Israelis. Those two countries were the most upmost professional I’ve ever worked with! 2nd ANGLICO OOH RAH! USMC
I visited a US military base and a military hospital for my job at the time pre 9-11. Blew my mind at the sheer scale and range of services on base. I found the Americans to be the most friendly welcoming and accommodating service personnel I've worked with, closely followed by Canadians. Kia Kaha Gen Dit! Great video reaction. Ka kite ano Toa!
The bases we know about/see on maps are the ones we are allowed to see. Google Maps for example has stated it's not uncommon for bases to be removed from the maps. To the point of the area is edited so it just looks like nothing is there. Then we get into bases that we have under the ground. Or possibly under the water. I imagine if we knew of everything going on, we would be shocked.
There are no bases under the sea. There are no bases under the sea. The Deep Ones would never allow it ! "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
When you talked about "soft skills" it kinda made me grin. When I was in the US army especially overseas we always had the saying of " hearts and minds" meaning instead of having an aggressive posture in non-aggressive situations you try to win the locals hearts and minds to your side and that can be more effective than any weapon system. If you can win over the people you can win a conflict with significantly less effort and expenditure.
I believe the pentagon doesn’t actually use David’s list. They just don’t want everyone to know where every single base we have is. Not including the secret bases we have that won’t show on these maps.
Exactly. When he said the Pentagon doesn’t even know how many bases we have I laughed. They aren’t going to give out information willy nilly to just anybody.
Remember, the dots are bases *and* installations. You likely don't remember there being a base on the southwest UK coast because it was a radar array or communications installation or something similar. That is what I don't like about this guys map. Installation makes you think it would be manned, and it could be, but most often they are little more than a fancy antenna.
The pentagon uses Dave’s list because there ARE MORE bases than Dave’s list but Dave’s is the most compiled amd organized with the highest number,...soooo lets uses Dave’s list and pretend we don’t know any better ? The pentagons going to keep every UNKNOWN base unknown so if a researcher isn’t found it leave it unfound. So I’m saying there’s sooooo much more!!! Love it.
exactly don't be tricked into thinking the us military doesn't know what they have, whats there, etc. They know exactly what is where, there are entire agencies dedicated to gathering info.
Yup, you can have whatever secret clearance you may need but if you are not deemed to have a need to know, you don't get access to anything. I don't think many civis understand that.
Actually the airport he is talking about in Iceland was a US Naval/Air Force base. My family was stationed there in 1973 and 1974 (my father is retired Air Force). The Naval base was a facility for submarines and the Air Force based housed an Interceptor Squadron that intercepted Russian aircraft. It was also also a repair base for NATO aircraft. It also maintained NORAD Defense radars on the island.
In N.M a small hick town where I was born and raised is military base large and small missile range and several other military institutions in a short distance.Also a monkey research lab.Lochead Martin.
@@cesarsalazar8618 It was disbanded and reorganized - so there is that. We have seen the organizations in place were corrupt and inefficient to begin with. The WHO is a lap dog agency for China
Also to answer your question the point in having military bases everywhere is to PREVENT wars from happening. So if there are no wars in 100 years or so time, then the bases have been effective and served their purposes.
Are those bases worth the price if there is no major war in the next one hundred years? I’d say yes even thou there is no way to properly measure because if those bases weren’t there maybe a major war could’ve broken out and if that happened we definitely would’ve wished we could’ve avoided it. But if there is no war there is no way to be sure if the bases prevented it or if the money was wasted.
They are worth it for the security they give some of those nations. Just look at Estonia. I watch a RUclips channel ( Artur Rehi) where the guy is an ex-Estonian military soldier and he loves the fact that the US has a base in Estonia as they act as a buffer against any possible Russian aggression against them.
History shows that without those bases there would be major wars through most of the world (well, Europe and Asia anyway) constantly. And I do mean *constantly.*
They are worth for the us, for everyone else no, hope someday the world realizes and starts a total war against the us bringing it out of existence so we can all be at peace and evolve
Specifically in Iceland's case it does make sense to let the US military expand it's airport at the cost of the US getting to use it whenever they want. If I'm not mistaken, the majority of Iceland's infrastructure was already built by the US military during WWII.
One thing to keep in mind with the stories about the US Military's "lack of Knowlege" you always have to think OPSEC (Operational Security) they arn't telling you shit if they don't have to. You do not give out unit details, this is the same but on the macro level.
I think you are spot on with comment along with the comment below by @The Architect and others about security and such. They know exactly what they have and not telling and or claiming ignorance. They are asking for The author's list, not because it is more complete, but most likely to get an idea of how much others know already. As an American tax payer which funds the effort to keep it all running, I cringe at the amount of money spent. But you know what, I cringe even more knowing how much worse it could be if we were not doing it. The question of are we too big and/or should we be in everyones backyard will always be a debate, and often is not settled until we are not there and something happens and in hind-sight, people ask where were we...Sometimes we stick out noses in where maybe we shouldn't but, hey I do not have the intel to know enough about what is really going on to say anything about it.
@@breckohlson7410 You would not have your maybe limited SOF, you would not have your ford class, you wouldn't have your F35 or F22, and you would have limited weapon systems pretty much anything that is time consuming and maintenance hell you would not have. I cringe at how much too but this is the price for keeping bad guys that need a dirt nap. If US was not around this planet would be done or under Germany or Soviet rule
@@lip124 , the latter part of my comment that starts with "But" is what you just said. I fully support having the Military, my only comment was about how much we spend. It just boils down to the cost of doing business and protecting our interests...
China is starting to project power beyond the South China Sea I believe it’s in Africa where they are building a base with deep water docking capabilities the crazy thing is apparently this has been 5 years in the making
China has actually been doing it for over 40 yrs planting little seeds of influence, not always full scale military bases but knowing when the time comes they have plenty of iou's they can collect on, they learned from the best
The big thing that grew in the military under the former guy was how many HUGE contracts defense contractors got; soldiers, GI and officers, barely got a pay bump. We did buy more ammo but...
I never lived overseas near a base, but did live in Norfolk, Virginia for about a year. My new husband was stationed there towards the end of his service. You had a huge naval base, the marines were there, and a huge Air Force base as well. From my experience it was good. You had all these military families and single men and women from the military poring large amounts of money into the local economy. On the bad side there were times when some issues would arise because you had conflicts between the locals and some of our military. Like I said, for the most part it was a great experience living there. We lived off base in a house we rented.
When I was in before retiring in 1999 I can remember a book being sold at the Base Exchanges with pages of US bases worldwide and the services they offered to US GIs who were traveling...Famcamps, BAQs, BOQs, shopping, entertainment, what-have-you. It was at least 2 inches thick and contained info on over a thousand bases/military facilities worldwide.
In a way it can also encourage them to fight against invaders into a country that the base is in. By making the base feel like home it helps engender a "defend my home" feeling to the region in general for those soldiers.
I lived on the small island in the pacific in the last part of the vid called Kwajalein as a Teen maybe 8-10 years ago. It’s a missile defense program and the island was originally Japanese territory. I actually became great friends with some of the natives, who I today keep in contact with. Interesting place. You also will have a very hard time visiting unless you know someone there specifically.
You asked in there was no war for 100 years, would the cost of maintaining those bases be worth it? Or something along those lines. Well one could say the reason there was no war is because those bases were there, the projection of power kept the peace. Then I would say it totally worth it. The second part is about Diego Garcia, I remember going through British Customs when we landed there and our skipper saying we were guest here and to behave. So I believe you are correct. Third come on down to Texas and I will take you out for some great BBQ and Tex Mex.
there is a saying I've heard periodically it says "Amateurs talk tactics, true professionals talk logistics." i feel feel this video demonstrates this mentality
Hell of a topic ... well done. And yes, I'm sure our footprint is bigger than "knowable", but, sometimes the general public doesn't have a need to know everything.
Do we know our footprint? Duh - I worked for PERSCOM (Personnel Command) and later finance; and we could pull up a real-time list of every single servicemember everywhere in the world, albeit coded (but I could read those codes) or in transit, at the punch of a few computer keys. Yes, we know where we are, and others know what we have there. Problem comes with the separation of the services. No Chief of a service wants other services to get involved in their territory, so only certain persons at the end of the money chain will ever have a birds eye view of where the flow goes. Hint: lots of undesignated money think Air Force, or payments to foreign entities to allow us to be there.
To be fair,...I live in a pet of utah and have been almost all my life,...2 months ago I made a wrong turn in a rural area and suddenly came to a a barbed wire fence on my right side,..it’s a US Army Reserve Base ,..a base LOADED with vehicles , Abrams, mobile Artillary Tanks and trailered weapons, I mean A LOT of them! Less than a mile from my home...how in the hell have I never ever seen this??? Well it’s in the middle of a residential area , surrounded by trees and somehow it’s been there all my Life and I’ve never known, it’s jsut a reserve base but the amount of equipment there is amazing and these are EVERYWHERE in the US and yes the same are all over the world on little parts of Brussels near nothing but farms and no one knows but those who work there or have seen it, that’s why all the bases in the UK you haven’t recalled ,..you don’t recall. I 100% KNOW Dave’s number is FAR off... and I guarantee Dave knows it and so does the Pentagon. Helps me sleep peacefully and should all our allies as well! 🙂👍👍
I've been on Camp Pendleton before and its HUGE. These bases really are like small cities and they have everything on base. I don't really live TOO TOO close to Camp Pendleton however I hear bombs going off ALL the time and the explosions are so huge that they shake the walls in my house.
Actually Iceland is not a US Base it is a NATO Base. I was stationed their for 3 years and the US pulled out in 2006 and the Icelandic's were very upset, their economy suffered greatly. We have been there since WWII
When it comes to the audit its just because there are so many moving parts that stuff falls thru the cracks and when youre talking about a 650+ billion dollar budget its going to seem like a big number of untracked money. As an example, i ran the CBRN section for my battalion and all the sudden one day supply told us we had gotten a bunch of masks in. The masks weren't allocated for us, we had no info on them, they had no serial numbers to track. They sat in my office until i got out and are still there. $250k in unused gas masks and no one higher ever asked a single thing about it. Could have taken them and sold them and no one would have been the wiser. I would think the Marine Corps would have cared about it but nope. All that adds up, so the pentagon doesnt know the true exact number which is what the audit sought to find.
Cody Tankersley, woh, that's a bit odd, isn't it? It sounds like stuff that used to be brought up on the old M*A*S*H* episodes. By the way, in case you'd want to use it again in a much more important place where an 'oops' would be embarrassing, the saying is actually "all of a sudden". No charge! LOL
too bad they don't do that state side with m-16s and m-4s, the market could always use some new "lost in the lake" goods. (I don't think c-4 or SAW/mounted machineguns would blend in/be missed)
I actually watched this video prior but didnt realize as you added so much of you into it it was like a new video. Hope you can watch more of this guys videos they are very good!
I’m in the US Army and I can tell you the pentagon has no idea how big it’s own military is. Their budget is so big and there’s so many changing factors they couldn’t possibly keep up with it. My own troop of only 113 soldiers have no idea how much money they spend on repairs, training exercises, live fires and new equipment.
Recently retired, and yeah each command has budgets, operations, capability development projects in works etc that there is no way the top at dod has a clue how much shit is going on
@@usmc24thmeu36 😂😂 I’ll take y’all to school real quick don’t worry. War is an economy, In the way of government contracts. In actuality, its just a big scam, but its $$$ for the U.S. government, so it works for them... here’s how government contracts work, The contractor gets a percentage of the cost of the plethora of things the U.S. Military will buy, as their profit. So, the more expensive the U.S. government can make the job, the more money they can get. Big scam.
@@usmc24thmeu36 I put laughing emojis, cause it sounded like you had to keep shooting and you thought it was unnecessary? Was under the impression that you didn’t understand why they wanted you to keep shooting, if this was the case.
>700,000,000,000$/a for the military complex but no money for good schools for every child, a functioning health care system, high speed railway system, high speed internet, reliable power grid and not even enough food for all. Truly a great country.
Also, remember how fighting a war on two fronts played a major role in Germany's defeat in WW2, the US, said hold my beer, and quadrupled down. Fast forward 80 years (give or take a couple), and the US military is now perfectly capable of fighting a full scale war on every other continent simultaneously, without even leaving our own continent exposed.
I won’t say much but I will say that when I was in the Middle East 19-20 we closed down a handful of bases/camps in the area. So for any civilian org. to keep an accurate up-to-date list would be challenging
Cause its bloody cold, mate. It was that of freeze. Besides, that was, for a long while, a Strategic Air Command staging and refueling point. Nuclear bombers were gassing up and moving over the top.
I've said it many times before, an will prolly say it again a few times again. The strongest in a global strength that the US military has, are it's alies. Their presence around the globe is felt by those that work in concert together. And together, can stop any and all opposition. Even in a non- military mindset, together we are one. JMHO
totally agree, if we didn't have good relations and allies the world over, we would have a very hard time checking belligerent nations from bullying. Hell, our allies in Asia are probably the only reason China has been kept (mostly) in check.
I did some deployments with the Brits (more years ago than I want to add up) and you guys had a Pub in the Tent City that was small but Amazing! Much fun hangin with you guys.
DoD - "You want to know how many military bases we have and where they are?" DoD - *Googles public info on bases* DoD - "Ah, yes. This list is the most complete! Use this David Vine one! He's a professor!" Johnny Harris - "The DoD doesn't even know how big it is!" DoD - *Smiles behind steepled fingers*
YES!!! that was the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard. Even the DOD doesnt known how big they are. LOLS!!!! of course they do. Otherwise they are a useless organization. Lols.
They Had whole divisions of armored vehicles in storage in Germany during the cold war so all that they would have to do is just fly the troops over and they were ready to fight
as a regular civilian i once lived on a base with my brother who was stationed in Fresno CA. honestly aside from mostly everyone wearing Uniform and the jets passing over every 2-3 hours it felt just like any other suburb in CA, there were stores(GOD BLESS THE NEX) parks amenities etc its really easy to forget your even on a Military base tbh.
A lot of the US bases I have been to are joint bases with host nations. The reason its hard to come up with a number is because a lot of these bases, camps, forward operating bases, combat outposts and such open and close so often.
Lol I remember the first time I watched me and my girlfriend was in Olive Garden and she thought it was funny how you say military 😂love the channel keep pushing from the bros across the water
2 super large bases that we once had were in the Philippines and Vietnam. Both these countries have been begging the USA TO come back. This is a direct response to China and their expanding incursions throughout the south pacific.
A lot of those are joint services bases for local defense depending on what local threat goals are.. i.e countering Russia or China or North Korea and Iran.. etc. Or joint bases monitoring and dealing with terror threats
The US military moved into Diego Garcia in the early 1970s. It's considered a Permanent Joint Operating Base. The UK purchased the islands in 1965 for the express purpose of implementing a UK-US mutual defense strategy. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that the UK had to give the islands back to Mauritius. The UK and the US said, "Nah."
A lot of American military retirees like to retire to those particular towns to use the facilities there. Income for the local area without losing local jobs to those crazy Americans. Heh.
Well Norwegians aren't fans of em, we voted against allowing us bases and the government did it anyway. Only time they've gone against public opinion. Our local airport that hundreds of thousands used as a connection point to Europe and beyond was a mixed sivil/millitary airport that had a RNAF helicopter base and the second largest by users civil airport. The airport and heliport is now a American base. Plane watchers are no longer allowed to stand in places we used to be. Now instead of the fence being the no trespassing area it's around 50m from the fence... Hmm the airbase there also used to house a "ww2" vampire that used to fly airshows. Now it's rebased somewhere and the airshows are no more. There's a 50 000+ person petition against it and reopening the civil airport
@@elementalgolem5498 Considering you're so close to Russia and have newly discovered oil in your territory, you shouldn't be so rush to make drastic decisions. Russia has and will always be a dangerous nation filled with dangerous people who want world domination. I know this for a fact since I'm someone who's escaped the tyranny of the Soviet Union and has lived closely with Russians for decades. They never change and never want to integrate with the rest of the nations. They just want to conquer others and bring the "Russian World" onto others. Nothing good has ever come out of that country. Not during the tsars not after the revolution.
this is actually something that few people living in the states actually understand themselves. our defense budget is so mind bogglingly huge because it pays the defense budgets of dozens of other countries to the point that they barely spend any of their own money on defense if at all because of how much they rely on the US.
>700,000,000,000$/a for the military complex but no money for good schools for every child, a functioning health care system, high speed railway system, high speed internet, reliable power grid, and not even enough food for all. Bridges, roads, railways, water pipes, locks, harbors, dams, canals etc etc all crumbling and rotting. Life expectancy lower than in Cuba and falling. Truly a great country who cares for it citizens!
You have to remember that the budget is huge for a reason it’s not like we just throw money around. We have vehicles to maintain. We need the basics as in “ beans, bullets, and beds” but the thing is a lot of these bases aren’t built just by the US. Host nations let us stay in their own different bases and we don’t run or own these bases. Most of the bases have soldiers there just for training purposes.
@@NotLilDebbie You may be right as long as the Soviet Union existed. But now? The U.S. spends more money on the military than the next 20 countries combined. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost more than $2,000,000,000,000 !!! So? 20 years later, are these countries in a better state? No! And America is hated throughout the Middle East more than ever before.If you had put the money into the development of Central America, the whole continent would be better off and you would not need a wall on the border with Mexico.
@@Medley3000 maybe but I’m sure the Syrians feel better off with troops in their country I know the polish and the Romanians like us. I know Iraqi’s like us too🤷🏽♂️another soldier I work with moved here from Iraq when he was 15 or so and he tells me how the people he and his family knew liked having US presence there. Although I feel the same we should focus more money on infrastructure I do disagree with taking it from us. The equipment we use and the weapons we have need maintenance and for that we need money. We get paid shit and if they started to pull money from us the requirement of maintenance won’t go down but it’ll reflect in our pay.
@@Medley3000 building the wall wasn’t done by military. That didn’t come from our budget. Russian aggression is still a real and big threat. That’s why the US and other allies have agreements to have US troops in their countries. I’m actually in Romania right now because of said reasons.
"That's interesting..." That's Diego Garcia and those are not bases, except for one, but ships with equipment on them, manned by civilians to the extent manned at all.
@@beautifulbliss5883 Its an honest lie. In the sence that. What ever we're told will never be confirmed truthful or not, or for our best interest or not. Maybe its better we dont know. Ive always felt like we live in this fantasy world, or protective bubble. Not knowing the true horrors of the world. Can't express how fortunate i feel to be living here.
So we know that our military has an undeniable advantage over anyone, but what You’re saying is that our dominance is even more far spread and awesome than is depicted here. I like that 😄
As an American yes it's worth it. Defending freedom and democracy is important. Also with everything going on in Ukraine, plus China threatening Taiwan, I honestly believe bases need to stay. Have the usa overstepped in the past, undoubtedly, but looking at the whole I honestly hope and believe that both the hosting country and people themselves think that having a base in their country as added defense. Just think not only does somewhere like Germany have their own bases but within there usa has dozens that at moment notice can and would add in military or natural disaster relief. That should count for something
@@usmc24thmeu36 ya it fluctuates back and forth between 3% to 4% which is not large that is average for most countries , if the United States suddenly jumped it to 6 or 7% it would be around 2 trillion a year, and technically still sustainable.
It's actually what we're REQUIRED by treaty. The NATO agreements states we're SUPPOSED to spend at least 3% of our GDP. As are every other NATO country supposed to. Of course none of the others do. The US government just tends to over look that fact.
Many of the bases are "Black Sites" meaning they don't exist as far as we are concerned. In fact many of their budgets are "Black Budgets" meaning they don't show up in the nation's Annual Budget.
we make our bases very americanized because its a big deal to culture shock somebody who is already a soldier on a military base abroad. if you can curb some of that away from home feeling. you can make it easier for people to operate properly. and some soldiers will move around often over their careers. so keeping a constant across the world has huge advantages as well.
The defense department sends personnel to their bases, officers to command their bases, and paychecks to all.. No, they know exactly how many bases they have.
why would civilians have access to sensitive military information that involves national security and even world stability? i sure as hell wouldnt let them know any of it me neither
He put a red dot in Finland for some reason, dunno why, maybe he ment to put it in Norway or something. Maybe all the dots are not like full on US owned property and military bases, because some of those dots are in places where shouldnt be US owned base or property, for example the one in Finland
It could be a joint Finnish American base or part of nato, I follow a American militarily Instagram account that’s about nato part of the army and they upload a couple of pictures from Finland, while Finland isn’t in nato I’m pretty sure they cooperate together
I have to laugh every time that you talk about 29 Palms - My dad worked in construction in the 1950's when that base was being expanded- My Mother lived in town - having moved there with her sister - who was married to a Marine. So, My Parents were married in 29 Palms - and I spent quite a bit of time out there growing up. I've been to the base theater, and one of my cousins was married on base. My cousins finally got there father to write down his experiences in the Marines - It turns out that he had been with the Marine Raider Battalion at Tulagi and Guadalcanal.
My unit hosted a company British light infantry, they were great we ran patrols, learned tactics, the tactics they used weren't so different from ours, plus we had many pints together, cheers mate !!
Exactly! The US should never downscale and people that say so are fools! The dude who made that list acts like something sinister is happening with these US bases, very annoying. They have already forgotten about WW1 and WW2.
Heck, just the Pentagon itself is a massive city underground. It even has nuclear reactors underground powering it. And thats just of what we are told about.
the cost of maintaining these bases also discourages other countries from going to war, and real wars costs lives and money, so i do believe the cost of tax dollars is worth it as a sort of preventative maintenance to prevent war
Apparently there are only two US installations in Australia (where I live btw), Pine Gap and a Naval base in Western Australia. We have loads of room guys...don't be so stingy...lol. Just subbed to your channel, love ya work man.
Your reaction in this video brother made me laugh. As I said before I spent 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and there is no way that I will ever believe that the DOD does not know an accurate inventory of forces or material. It’s easier for them to say they don’t know then it is to say we don’t want to tell you. As a royal Marines commando you know that if they gave out all of that information they’re providing public public information that becomes intelligence for the enemy. I remember one of the first things that I was told when I joined the Marine Corps bu a very experienced combat officer, “power perceived is power achieved“. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Joe Biden wants to reduce the military, enemy at the Gates.
More likely, he wants to find out much Trump has changed to undermine our foreign policy and presence, like when Trump pulled out troops and Russia rolled in the next day. And like with the covid vaccine plan (there wasn't one), so Joe has to sleuth out all the things Trump let slide, break, or worse. Joe is familiar with the armed forces and what they do and where they do it. He just needs to know how badly Trump fucked everything up.
They probably use the professor's list so that they know which bases NOT to disclose because they don't HAVE to because they don't WANT people to know about what they do there.
This list was obsolete as soon as it was published. Small installations are set up and torn down at a surprising rate. Two reasons why the Pentagon "doesn't know". One, an aspect of decentralization. Two, an effort to keep certain activities hidden (more likely). The old military adage, "If one doesn't occupy the space, the enemy will".
A big reason the pentagon doesn't necessarily have the complete list is because each of the seperate command units are in charge of there areas around the world. The pentagon will have a general idea but they rely on the command units to manage the areas. It's part of what nakes them scary, each area operates within itself and not all of them play by the same rules
Since we are neighbors we don't have to have bases in Canada since we have NAFTA I believe it's called. American Jets and Canadian Jets help defend each other's airspace.
@@shyryTsr2k It is that US air power (with tankers) are completely capable of covering all of that airspace if need be from Alaska and the contiguous US. Bases there are mutually run radar installations for the most part. You don't have to worry about a land invasion from the northern parts of Canada.
@@shyryTsr2k It’s NORAD. North American Aerospace Defense Command. NAFTA was the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, USA and Mexico. NAFTA was replaced by the USCMA under Trump.
@@MrsMoody01 oh lmao I'm sorry I totally forgot it's called NORAD. I know about the "secret" base that's inside of a mountain that is the base of NORAD but I just forgot it's name. Thanks a lot for this info!
@@franksmith4730 ohhhh I understand now. Thanks so much and I don't see why Canada would ever have a reason to invade us haha. Even if they did they definitely don't have the numbers or the tech but I do respect our Canadian counterparts 100% im just stating facts here.
If it’s not public knowledge then there’s a reason you don’t need to know and no one would tell you unless they were stupid just be happy with the knowledge you do have
As for size we know the number of troops and large assets…mostly. The problem is we have deep storage items in locations like Finland that is majority forgotten about. Spending wise we do our budgets in a “use or loose” fashion where you have to spend your entire budget every year…and then overspend by 10% or else you won’t get the same budget next year. In this there comes a lot of unaccounted for equipment and supplies where people just don’t know what conned box it’s in or even where it goes. Auditors could probably never find every bit of purchased gear in the budget.
I believe the investment in those bases is worth it. If we don’t have another major war for 100 years, I’ll believe that the global American base presence played a role in that
Completely agree
Well said
When will the day occur when Americans vote dont count, and a tyrant declares war?
Disagree. I've been a proponent of more Virginia Class Submarines since the first one was launched. Looks like there will eventually be over 40. GOOD! Next. Replace every Nimitz carrier one-for-one with a Ford class. Bring back the escort carrier with rotary wing and vertical take-off aircraft and keep building them until there is no place to put more. Increase the size of the Marine Corp and begin to decrease the size of the Army. Our theater of operations globally should be the oceans and above the atmosphere. The Army should be a support / logistic capability with no means to occupy or establish permanent operations abroad. Incrementally close foreign bases and move those investments to outer-space. Adopt a policy of armed neutrality responding to direct threats with quick, devastating attacks and GET OUT! Inform our friends of this type of help BUT, if they are about antagonizing their neighbors or our enemies, tough, you're on your own. Build your own military capability to replace the leaving US presence...or not...up to you.
Agree 💯, AR
The amount of UK channels im subbed to would've made me a traitor 240 years ago. Love the channel Brother
Hahaha this is awesome brother - Well if it helps, i guess the same would apply for the amount of American videos i react to lol
Great reply man lol
@@grapepickle1039 When you are being tutored by an expert trader, you are definitely gonna make good profits...as simple as that, I think👍
@@longwayjames1203 Trading with an expert is the best way to start an investment
@@williamlucas5575 exactly now I am been tutored by sharon lee, I make more profits compared to when I was trading on my own
Hey man, love your videos! I'm a US Army vet and worked with some British troops in Afghanistan. I just found your channel and have been binge watching! Keep it up brother!
Thank you for your service warrior brother
When I think back to WWI and WWII I remember how long it took to build up men and equipment and supplies for each of these wars. Plus we had to get all of that transported to the UK and I’m sure other locations before we could actually join into each of these wars. So, having bases and infrastructure already in place would certainly help with the logistics.
The USA has well over a hundred classified to super secret bases as well. Thank God for the US military to help keep the world safe. I am also retired military and have been all over the world. Absolutely love the travel and the chance to get to know others.
That's a big friggin' you ain't a shittin'. I just found one in my backyard yesterday!
Super secret? Lol. No, we don’t
@J K There are blacksites all over that are used to hold and detain prisoners of value or importance to the U.S. Those blacksites ship to guantanamo. How do I know this? I was a 31E, which is an MP who works with prisoners and detainees for transport to and fro america and other prisons abroad that you didn't know exist. Note: I dont know where it is. Nor was I there in any capacity. Only that I've heard about it from soldiers who were in the know when I was preparing for the possibility to go to one. It fell through because of petty reasons, so I never went.
Been home for 2weeks from the Sand box in Afghanistan.. 38whiskey... Gotta love the Brits even over there.. The only ones we trust like a brother...
The US asks for bases. While Chinas Belt and Road project drives countries towards bankruptcy. Saw Angola regretting its decision to agree to Chinese deals on improving their infrastructure.
All that debt diplomacy from China. When China says they are building anything for non military purposes (islands in the South China Sea, ports, airports, rail in other countries), it can always be leveraged by the PLA since the CCP always has a stake in any Chinese company.
That’s what China want they offer all this money to improve a country and let them get so far into debt they can’t pay then China moves in and starts taking resources as justification for payment.
the CCP figured that since they "understand" how the west works (with money) that they can do the same everywhere
problem is the CCP has recently pissed the world off, namely the west, and the more they try to sugarcoat everything the angrier the west gets and when the west is angry money is no longer effective
Just ask the Philippines how China just say "mine" and built a military installation overnight, harass local fisherman and coast guard, sinks a couple of boat and bans Filipinos from fishing or getting close to "their" islands.
@@ericl5973 That's why I avoid buying anything from China, if at all possible. The RoC makes just as good, if not better, alternatives. Or the RoK, or Japan, or ....many others.
Aside from military preparation in the event of war, a lot of these bases are used to store essentials in the event of a crisis such as a natural disaster. For example the marine corps is meant to be able to respond to a disaster anywhere around the world in around 48hrs
Yup, logistics bases basically.
It’s so nice to have such a solid ally in the UK. Literally have each other’s back 100%
Not to mention they gave us the Beatles and the Stones.
This countries founders are from there, we share blood.
I like to think that the UK, France (allies in our revolution, even if only because they believed they could conquer us later), Germany (for efforts to free East Germans from communist rule and unify Germany), Canada (our friendly neighbors to the north with a similar "settled by pioneers" background), Japan (strongest Pacific alliance, despite being former enemies at war), and a few eastern European nations would always be dependable allies due to our former shared camaraderie.
But then there's Russia. We allied with them to end the Axis powers in WW2, then they immediately became our strongest state enemy, and have remained so since then.
@@Barefoot433 Not anymore, AMerican ancestors d, but by the present we're so different now. THe UK is an ethnically white country, the US is a "melting pot". Whether it's white Europeans, Latinos from Mexico, decendents or African slaves, or Asian or other ethnic workers who cam here to find a new life in the immigration boom of the 1900s. America is now one of the most unifying countries thanks to our diverse backgrounds. Most other nations no part of North or South AMerica can tie their citizens to an ethnic origin, the US not so much.
As a former U.S. Marine, I have to say I really enjoy your videos. I tell people all the time, my best experiences with other countries services were the British Royal Marines and the Israelis. Those two countries were the most upmost professional I’ve ever worked with! 2nd ANGLICO OOH RAH! USMC
I visited a US military base and a military hospital for my job at the time pre 9-11. Blew my mind at the sheer scale and range of services on base. I found the Americans to be the most friendly welcoming and accommodating service personnel I've worked with, closely followed by Canadians.
Kia Kaha Gen Dit!
Great video reaction.
Ka kite ano Toa!
Unless you’re American yourself. Then you get treated like dog shit.
considering canada is just america north. that makes sense.
The bases we know about/see on maps are the ones we are allowed to see. Google Maps for example has stated it's not uncommon for bases to be removed from the maps. To the point of the area is edited so it just looks like nothing is there. Then we get into bases that we have under the ground. Or possibly under the water. I imagine if we knew of everything going on, we would be shocked.
Very true. Bases where elite units train and are housed are kept off the map. Even on military maps they are blacked out.
There are no bases under the sea. There are no bases under the sea.
The Deep Ones would never allow it !
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
If you stay ready, youll never have to get ready
But how do you stay ready if you never get ready?
@@ohptimusplum2631 so your saying one would need to get ready in order to stay ready, so you’ll never have to get ready again?
@@edgexedgamertag1680 no he said that
Facts lol
@@ohptimusplum2631 knowing is half the battle.
When you talked about "soft skills" it kinda made me grin. When I was in the US army especially overseas we always had the saying of " hearts and minds" meaning instead of having an aggressive posture in non-aggressive situations you try to win the locals hearts and minds to your side and that can be more effective than any weapon system. If you can win over the people you can win a conflict with significantly less effort and expenditure.
I believe the pentagon doesn’t actually use David’s list. They just don’t want everyone to know where every single base we have is. Not including the secret bases we have that won’t show on these maps.
Exactly. When he said the Pentagon doesn’t even know how many bases we have I laughed. They aren’t going to give out information willy nilly to just anybody.
Remember, the dots are bases *and* installations. You likely don't remember there being a base on the southwest UK coast because it was a radar array or communications installation or something similar. That is what I don't like about this guys map. Installation makes you think it would be manned, and it could be, but most often they are little more than a fancy antenna.
most of them are most likely just a storage shed
maybe colorcode the dots
Exactly! We have weather stations which counts as a US installations as well.
Agree totally.
The pentagon uses Dave’s list because there ARE MORE bases than Dave’s list but Dave’s is the most compiled amd organized with the highest number,...soooo lets uses Dave’s list and pretend we don’t know any better ? The pentagons going to keep every UNKNOWN base unknown so if a researcher isn’t found it leave it unfound. So I’m saying there’s sooooo much more!!! Love it.
Now when china steals our shit they just have the shit we gave Dave.
It's all on a "Need to know" basis. One of the first things I learned in the Army.
Yeah that even applies to the top of the top
exactly don't be tricked into thinking the us military doesn't know what they have, whats there, etc. They know exactly what is where, there are entire agencies dedicated to gathering info.
@@eolsunder 😊 That has to be cleared up
Yup, you can have whatever secret clearance you may need but if you are not deemed to have a need to know, you don't get access to anything. I don't think many civis understand that.
Actually the airport he is talking about in Iceland was a US Naval/Air Force base. My family was stationed there in 1973 and 1974 (my father is retired Air Force). The Naval base was a facility for submarines and the Air Force based housed an Interceptor Squadron that intercepted Russian aircraft. It was also also a repair base for NATO aircraft. It also maintained NORAD Defense radars on the island.
In N.M a small hick town where I was born and raised is military base large and small missile range and several other military institutions in a short distance.Also a monkey research lab.Lochead Martin.
Bro, those bases are the reason there's not going to be another huge conflict. They exist so that they _won't_ ever have to be utilized.
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it type of vibe.
Thats your speculation
The best example was with the task force in charge of pandemics being disbanded and we all know how that went right guys?
We could just pull a rome
@@cesarsalazar8618 It was disbanded and reorganized - so there is that. We have seen the organizations in place were corrupt and inefficient to begin with. The WHO is a lap dog agency for China
Also to answer your question the point in having military bases everywhere is to PREVENT wars from happening. So if there are no wars in 100 years or so time, then the bases have been effective and served their purposes.
Are those bases worth the price if there is no major war in the next one hundred years? I’d say yes even thou there is no way to properly measure because if those bases weren’t there maybe a major war could’ve broken out and if that happened we definitely would’ve wished we could’ve avoided it. But if there is no war there is no way to be sure if the bases prevented it or if the money was wasted.
They are worth it for the security they give some of those nations. Just look at Estonia. I watch a RUclips channel (
Artur Rehi) where the guy is an ex-Estonian military soldier and he loves the fact that the US has a base in Estonia as they act as a buffer against any possible Russian aggression against them.
History shows that without those bases there would be major wars through most of the world (well, Europe and Asia anyway) constantly. And I do mean *constantly.*
They are worth for the us, for everyone else no, hope someday the world realizes and starts a total war against the us bringing it out of existence so we can all be at peace and evolve
A lot of the UK based US bases are Joint Operations. Some times, run by locals, staffed by locals, and might have one platoon stationed.
Specifically in Iceland's case it does make sense to let the US military expand it's airport at the cost of the US getting to use it whenever they want. If I'm not mistaken, the majority of Iceland's infrastructure was already built by the US military during WWII.
Me the intellectual: Ah yes, Diego Garcia that's where they keep the Autobots.
If you've ever been to Diego Garcia you'd know it's not the place you want to be.
Alot of shit pops off Diego Garcia but it's an isolated hell to be at
@@thebusterdog6358 there was always good fishing.
@@deerfieldabbey yup, but nothing else.
I was stationed on Diego Garcia in the late 80’s. All replies here are accurate...
One thing to keep in mind with the stories about the US Military's "lack of Knowlege" you always have to think OPSEC (Operational Security) they arn't telling you shit if they don't have to. You do not give out unit details, this is the same but on the macro level.
Exactly. Dude the Pentagon giving honest answers...
I think you are spot on with comment along with the comment below by @The Architect and others about security and such. They know exactly what they have and not telling and or claiming ignorance. They are asking for The author's list, not because it is more complete, but most likely to get an idea of how much others know already. As an American tax payer which funds the effort to keep it all running, I cringe at the amount of money spent. But you know what, I cringe even more knowing how much worse it could be if we were not doing it. The question of are we too big and/or should we be in everyones backyard will always be a debate, and often is not settled until we are not there and something happens and in hind-sight, people ask where were we...Sometimes we stick out noses in where maybe we shouldn't but, hey I do not have the intel to know enough about what is really going on to say anything about it.
@@breckohlson7410 You would not have your maybe limited SOF, you would not have your ford class, you wouldn't have your F35 or F22, and you would have limited weapon systems pretty much anything that is time consuming and maintenance hell you would not have. I cringe at how much too but this is the price for keeping bad guys that need a dirt nap. If US was not around this planet would be done or under Germany or Soviet rule
@@lip124 , the latter part of my comment that starts with "But" is what you just said. I fully support having the Military, my only comment was about how much we spend. It just boils down to the cost of doing business and protecting our interests...
When he said imagine if China had military bases all over the world, it sent shivers down my spine.
China is starting to project power beyond the South China Sea I believe it’s in Africa where they are building a base with deep water docking capabilities the crazy thing is apparently this has been 5 years in the making
imagine if it was Japan! it would be anime 24/7
China has actually been doing it for over 40 yrs planting little seeds of influence, not always full scale military bases but knowing when the time comes they have plenty of iou's they can collect on, they learned from the best
China is building bases all around Africa.
@@TwiztedSmoke the horror! the horror!
The big thing that grew in the military under the former guy was how many HUGE contracts defense contractors got; soldiers, GI and officers, barely got a pay bump. We did buy more ammo but...
I never lived overseas near a base, but did live in Norfolk, Virginia for about a year. My new husband was stationed there towards the end of his service. You had a huge naval base, the marines were there, and a huge Air Force base as well. From my experience it was good. You had all these military families and single men and women from the military poring large amounts of money into the local economy. On the bad side there were times when some issues would arise because you had conflicts between the locals and some of our military. Like I said, for the most part it was a great experience living there. We lived off base in a house we rented.
When I was in before retiring in 1999 I can remember a book being sold at the Base Exchanges with pages of US bases worldwide and the services they offered to US GIs who were traveling...Famcamps, BAQs, BOQs, shopping, entertainment, what-have-you. It was at least 2 inches thick and contained info on over a thousand bases/military facilities worldwide.
I am prior military and have nothing but love and respect for the Brits. You guys are the best.
The more you can make an overseas base seem like home, the better for the morale and spirits of the troops and their families.
war is easy when the entire world seems like two steps from home
In a way it can also encourage them to fight against invaders into a country that the base is in. By making the base feel like home it helps engender a "defend my home" feeling to the region in general for those soldiers.
@@midgetydeath Especially since most of these bases you can bring your family with you so you literally are defending your family.
WOW. Awesome topic and video !! Find out more on your channel than any here in US. Love to our British brothers and sisters
I lived on the small island in the pacific in the last part of the vid called Kwajalein as a Teen maybe 8-10 years ago. It’s a missile defense program and the island was originally Japanese territory. I actually became great friends with some of the natives, who I today keep in contact with. Interesting place. You also will have a very hard time visiting unless you know someone there specifically.
You asked in there was no war for 100 years, would the cost of maintaining those bases be worth it? Or something along those lines. Well one could say the reason there was no war is because those bases were there, the projection of power kept the peace. Then I would say it totally worth it.
The second part is about Diego Garcia, I remember going through British Customs when we landed there and our skipper saying we were guest here and to behave. So I believe you are correct.
Third come on down to Texas and I will take you out for some great BBQ and Tex Mex.
The fact that these supplies are NOT being utilized is, overall, a great thing. It just means that the deterrence is working.
there is a saying I've heard periodically it says "Amateurs talk tactics, true professionals talk logistics." i feel feel this video demonstrates this mentality
Hell of a topic ... well done.
And yes, I'm sure our footprint is bigger than "knowable", but, sometimes the general public doesn't have a need to know everything.
Do we know our footprint? Duh - I worked for PERSCOM (Personnel Command) and later finance; and we could pull up a real-time list of every single servicemember everywhere in the world, albeit coded (but I could read those codes) or in transit, at the punch of a few computer keys. Yes, we know where we are, and others know what we have there. Problem comes with the separation of the services. No Chief of a service wants other services to get involved in their territory, so only certain persons at the end of the money chain will ever have a birds eye view of where the flow goes. Hint: lots of undesignated money think Air Force, or payments to foreign entities to allow us to be there.
To be fair,...I live in a pet of utah and have been almost all my life,...2 months ago I made a wrong turn in a rural area and suddenly came to a a barbed wire fence on my right side,..it’s a US Army Reserve Base ,..a base LOADED with vehicles , Abrams, mobile Artillary Tanks and trailered weapons, I mean A LOT of them! Less than a mile from my home...how in the hell have I never ever seen this??? Well it’s in the middle of a residential area , surrounded by trees and somehow it’s been there all my
Life and I’ve never known, it’s jsut a reserve base but the amount of equipment there is amazing and these are EVERYWHERE in the US and yes the same are all over the world on little parts of Brussels near nothing but farms and no one knows but those who work there or have seen it, that’s why all the bases in the UK you haven’t recalled ,..you don’t recall. I 100% KNOW Dave’s number is FAR off... and I guarantee Dave knows it and so does the Pentagon. Helps me sleep peacefully and should all our allies as well! 🙂👍👍
I've been on Camp Pendleton before and its HUGE. These bases really are like small cities and they have everything on base. I don't really live TOO TOO close to Camp Pendleton however I hear bombs going off ALL the time and the explosions are so huge that they shake the walls in my house.
Actually Iceland is not a US Base it is a NATO Base. I was stationed their for 3 years and the US pulled out in 2006 and the Icelandic's were very upset, their economy suffered greatly. We have been there since WWII
He didn’t have the 1 that is in Djibouti which is in the Horn of Africa. In 02 we went there and cleared an area so that it could be set up
Its worthwhile because it reassures our allies of our presence while at the same time reminding our enemies of of massive presence
When it comes to the audit its just because there are so many moving parts that stuff falls thru the cracks and when youre talking about a 650+ billion dollar budget its going to seem like a big number of untracked money. As an example, i ran the CBRN section for my battalion and all the sudden one day supply told us we had gotten a bunch of masks in. The masks weren't allocated for us, we had no info on them, they had no serial numbers to track. They sat in my office until i got out and are still there. $250k in unused gas masks and no one higher ever asked a single thing about it. Could have taken them and sold them and no one would have been the wiser. I would think the Marine Corps would have cared about it but nope. All that adds up, so the pentagon doesnt know the true exact number which is what the audit sought to find.
Cody Tankersley, woh, that's a bit odd, isn't it? It sounds like stuff that used to be brought up on the old M*A*S*H* episodes.
By the way, in case you'd want to use it again in a much more important place where an 'oops' would be embarrassing, the saying is actually "all of a sudden". No charge! LOL
"i don't know just make them disappear"
roger that
too bad they don't do that state side with m-16s and m-4s, the market could always use some new "lost in the lake" goods. (I don't think c-4 or SAW/mounted machineguns would blend in/be missed)
I actually watched this video prior but didnt realize as you added so much of you into it it was like a new video. Hope you can watch more of this guys videos they are very good!
I’m in the US Army and I can tell you the pentagon has no idea how big it’s own military is. Their budget is so big and there’s so many changing factors they couldn’t possibly keep up with it. My own troop of only 113 soldiers have no idea how much money they spend on repairs, training exercises, live fires and new equipment.
In 2004 in fallujah besides being in firefight every day my battalion was told we needed to use up so much ammo. No matter what...
Recently retired, and yeah each command has budgets, operations, capability development projects in works etc that there is no way the top at dod has a clue how much shit is going on
@@usmc24thmeu36 😂😂 I’ll take y’all to school real quick don’t worry. War is an economy, In the way of government contracts. In actuality, its just a big scam, but its $$$ for the U.S. government, so it works for them... here’s how government contracts work, The contractor gets a percentage of the cost of the plethora of things the U.S. Military will buy, as their profit. So, the more expensive the U.S. government can make the job, the more money they can get. Big scam.
@@usmc24thmeu36 I put laughing emojis, cause it sounded like you had to keep shooting and you thought it was unnecessary? Was under the impression that you didn’t understand why they wanted you to keep shooting, if this was the case.
>700,000,000,000$/a for the military complex but no money for good schools for every child, a functioning health care system, high speed railway system, high speed internet, reliable power grid and not even enough food for all. Truly a great country.
Also, remember how fighting a war on two fronts played a major role in Germany's defeat in WW2, the US, said hold my beer, and quadrupled down. Fast forward 80 years (give or take a couple), and the US military is now perfectly capable of fighting a full scale war on every other continent simultaneously, without even leaving our own continent exposed.
I won’t say much but I will say that when I was in the Middle East 19-20 we closed down a handful of bases/camps in the area. So for any civilian org. to keep an accurate up-to-date list would be challenging
You should react to the Star Spangled banner like you never herd it before
Great video!
Much of the Greenland base, Thule, is underground. It’s very high tech.
Cause its bloody cold, mate. It was that of freeze. Besides, that was, for a long while, a Strategic Air Command staging and refueling point. Nuclear bombers were gassing up and moving over the top.
Thule was outta commission until 2 years ago,so not every base is operational and manned,and a base could be where the us throws a desk and a radio.
I've said it many times before, an will prolly say it again a few times again. The strongest in a global strength that the US military has, are it's alies. Their presence around the globe is felt by those that work in concert together. And together, can stop any and all opposition. Even in a non- military mindset, together we are one. JMHO
You are absolutely right. Without our allies, we would have a harder time influencing the world.
totally agree, if we didn't have good relations and allies the world over, we would have a very hard time checking belligerent nations from bullying. Hell, our allies in Asia are probably the only reason China has been kept (mostly) in check.
I did some deployments with the Brits (more years ago than I want to add up) and you guys had a Pub in the Tent City that was small but Amazing! Much fun hangin with you guys.
The host nation military personnel also works on these bases as well. The US military also has small detachments on host nation bases as well.
DoD - "You want to know how many military bases we have and where they are?"
DoD - *Googles public info on bases*
DoD - "Ah, yes. This list is the most complete! Use this David Vine one! He's a professor!"
Johnny Harris - "The DoD doesn't even know how big it is!"
DoD - *Smiles behind steepled fingers*
YES!!! that was the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard. Even the DOD doesnt known how big they are. LOLS!!!! of course they do. Otherwise they are a useless organization. Lols.
Lol seriously…
There’s a reason the old saying “loose lips, sink ships” has survived for so long now….
How did you come up with my name
They Had whole divisions of armored vehicles in storage in Germany during the cold war so all that they would have to do is just fly the troops over and they were ready to fight
Yes I do believe it is worth us having bases around the world because I think them being there keeps others from getting to far out of hand
I was once stationed in Diego Garcia when I was in the US Marine Corps Security Forces. Your understanding of it is spot on.
as a regular civilian i once lived on a base with my brother who was stationed in Fresno CA. honestly aside from mostly everyone wearing Uniform and the jets passing over every 2-3 hours it felt just like any other suburb in CA, there were stores(GOD BLESS THE NEX) parks amenities etc its really easy to forget your even on a Military base tbh.
A lot of the US bases I have been to are joint bases with host nations. The reason its hard to come up with a number is because a lot of these bases, camps, forward operating bases, combat outposts and such open and close so often.
Air Force closed one of it’s bases in Germany while I was there.
Lol I remember the first time I watched me and my girlfriend was in Olive Garden and she thought it was funny how you say military 😂love the channel keep pushing from the bros across the water
2 super large bases that we once had were in the Philippines and Vietnam. Both these countries have
been begging the USA TO come back. This is a direct response to China and their expanding incursions
throughout the south pacific.
29 palms is used for USMC bootcamp. It was for a couple of weeks back in the day. We had kp duty there so got to spend an extra week at the range :)
A lot of those are joint services bases for local defense depending on what local threat goals are.. i.e countering Russia or China or North Korea and Iran.. etc. Or joint bases monitoring and dealing with terror threats
The US military moved into Diego Garcia in the early 1970s. It's considered a Permanent Joint Operating Base. The UK purchased the islands in 1965 for the express purpose of implementing a UK-US mutual defense strategy. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that the UK had to give the islands back to Mauritius. The UK and the US said, "Nah."
As a veteran I have seen that most countries love having the installations near them because it pumps ALOT of money into their economies.
A lot of American military retirees like to retire to those particular towns to use the facilities there. Income for the local area without losing local jobs to those crazy Americans. Heh.
And offers a deterrent to other countries that might want to occupy
Except here in Japan. Virtually every social problem is attributed to drunk marines in Okinawa
Well Norwegians aren't fans of em, we voted against allowing us bases and the government did it anyway. Only time they've gone against public opinion. Our local airport that hundreds of thousands used as a connection point to Europe and beyond was a mixed sivil/millitary airport that had a RNAF helicopter base and the second largest by users civil airport. The airport and heliport is now a American base. Plane watchers are no longer allowed to stand in places we used to be. Now instead of the fence being the no trespassing area it's around 50m from the fence... Hmm the airbase there also used to house a "ww2" vampire that used to fly airshows. Now it's rebased somewhere and the airshows are no more. There's a 50 000+ person petition against it and reopening the civil airport
@@elementalgolem5498 Considering you're so close to Russia and have newly discovered oil in your territory, you shouldn't be so rush to make drastic decisions. Russia has and will always be a dangerous nation filled with dangerous people who want world domination. I know this for a fact since I'm someone who's escaped the tyranny of the Soviet Union and has lived closely with Russians for decades. They never change and never want to integrate with the rest of the nations. They just want to conquer others and bring the "Russian World" onto others. Nothing good has ever come out of that country. Not during the tsars not after the revolution.
this is actually something that few people living in the states actually understand themselves. our defense budget is so mind bogglingly huge because it pays the defense budgets of dozens of other countries to the point that they barely spend any of their own money on defense if at all because of how much they rely on the US.
>700,000,000,000$/a for the military complex but no money for good schools for every child, a functioning health care system, high speed railway system, high speed internet, reliable power grid, and not even enough food for all. Bridges, roads, railways, water pipes, locks, harbors, dams, canals etc etc all crumbling and rotting. Life expectancy lower than in Cuba and falling. Truly a great country who cares for it citizens!
You have to remember that the budget is huge for a reason it’s not like we just throw money around. We have vehicles to maintain. We need the basics as in “ beans, bullets, and beds” but the thing is a lot of these bases aren’t built just by the US. Host nations let us stay in their own different bases and we don’t run or own these bases. Most of the bases have soldiers there just for training purposes.
@@NotLilDebbie You may be right as long as the Soviet Union existed. But now? The U.S. spends more money on the military than the next 20 countries combined. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost more than $2,000,000,000,000 !!! So? 20 years later, are these countries in a better state? No! And America is hated throughout the Middle East more than ever before.If you had put the money into the development of Central America, the whole continent would be better off and you would not need a wall on the border with Mexico.
@@Medley3000 maybe but I’m sure the Syrians feel better off with troops in their country I know the polish and the Romanians like us. I know Iraqi’s like us too🤷🏽♂️another soldier I work with moved here from Iraq when he was 15 or so and he tells me how the people he and his family knew liked having US presence there. Although I feel the same we should focus more money on infrastructure I do disagree with taking it from us. The equipment we use and the weapons we have need maintenance and for that we need money. We get paid shit and if they started to pull money from us the requirement of maintenance won’t go down but it’ll reflect in our pay.
@@Medley3000 building the wall wasn’t done by military. That didn’t come from our budget. Russian aggression is still a real and big threat. That’s why the US and other allies have agreements to have US troops in their countries. I’m actually in Romania right now because of said reasons.
Gen Dit Commando! Thank you for your service. We are all brothers and sisters in arms. U.S. Navy veteran here 15 years active duty.
"That's interesting..." That's Diego Garcia and those are not bases, except for one, but ships with equipment on them, manned by civilians to the extent manned at all.
THE BASES HELP PROTECT THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE IN AND REALLY HELP THE LOCAL ECONOMIES.
I feel the military won't give you exact information, due to security reasons. You never want the enemy to know what you really have.
@@beautifulbliss5883 Its an honest lie. In the sence that. What ever we're told will never be confirmed truthful or not, or for our best interest or not. Maybe its better we dont know. Ive always felt like we live in this fantasy world, or protective bubble. Not knowing the true horrors of the world. Can't express how fortunate i feel to be living here.
“Loose lips sink ships”
So we know that our military has an undeniable advantage over anyone, but what You’re saying is that our dominance is even more far spread and awesome than is depicted here. I like that 😄
@@tomassmith5009 if thats a good thing than yes!
Glad you noticed DG. Many US facilities are on UK or other 5 Eyes Nations' Territories.
"There obviously is..." No there isn't. He's mapping small cells of US personnel assigned to RAF and RN bases as if they were US bases.
As an American yes it's worth it. Defending freedom and democracy is important. Also with everything going on in Ukraine, plus China threatening Taiwan, I honestly believe bases need to stay. Have the usa overstepped in the past, undoubtedly, but looking at the whole I honestly hope and believe that both the hosting country and people themselves think that having a base in their country as added defense. Just think not only does somewhere like Germany have their own bases but within there usa has dozens that at moment notice can and would add in military or natural disaster relief. That should count for something
The funniest thing is that I’ve heard it said the most important thing about London internationally is how it serves as an American airbase
I lived on a base a few years back because my dad was in military. We were never stationed over seas but I know people who were
I was stationed in Europe(Belgium) and Asia(South Korea)when I was in the Air Force.
Thing is we actually spends a small amount of our GDP
I believe 3.5%
@@usmc24thmeu36 ya it fluctuates back and forth between 3% to 4% which is not large that is average for most countries , if the United States suddenly jumped it to 6 or 7% it would be around 2 trillion a year, and technically still sustainable.
It's actually what we're REQUIRED by treaty. The NATO agreements states we're SUPPOSED to spend at least 3% of our GDP. As are every other NATO country supposed to. Of course none of the others do. The US government just tends to over look that fact.
Many of the bases are "Black Sites" meaning they don't exist as far as we are concerned. In fact many of their budgets are "Black Budgets" meaning they don't show up in the nation's Annual Budget.
we make our bases very americanized because its a big deal to culture shock somebody who is already a soldier on a military base abroad. if you can curb some of that away from home feeling. you can make it easier for people to operate properly. and some soldiers will move around often over their careers. so keeping a constant across the world has huge advantages as well.
and surprisingly military spending us up under the Biden administration. With whats going on in Ukraine its probably going up more.
The defense department sends personnel to their bases, officers to command their bases, and paychecks to all.. No, they know exactly how many bases they have.
the public CANNOT get an accurate amount of money spent when there are projects that are "blacked out" due to secrecy.
why would civilians have access to sensitive military information that involves national security and even world stability?
i sure as hell wouldnt let them know any of it me neither
@@xGoodOldSmurfehx Paychecks are sensitive military information?
@@pepperVenge yes
@@SHAKE-S-PIERRE Lol no
He put a red dot in Finland for some reason, dunno why, maybe he ment to put it in Norway or something.
Maybe all the dots are not like full on US owned property and military bases, because some of those dots are in places where shouldnt be US owned base or property, for example the one in Finland
Those dots don't necessarily mean an occupied military base. They could a radar site, unmanned missile site, weather site, remote landing strip etc.
It could be a joint Finnish American base or part of nato, I follow a American militarily Instagram account that’s about nato part of the army and they upload a couple of pictures from Finland, while Finland isn’t in nato I’m pretty sure they cooperate together
I have to laugh every time that you talk about 29 Palms -
My dad worked in construction in the 1950's when that base was being expanded-
My Mother lived in town - having moved there with her sister - who was married to a Marine.
So, My Parents were married in 29 Palms - and I spent quite a bit of time out there growing up.
I've been to the base theater, and one of my cousins was married on base.
My cousins finally got there father to write down his experiences in the Marines -
It turns out that he had been with the Marine Raider Battalion at Tulagi and Guadalcanal.
Man... i really really detest 29 stumps... like... i will never ever go back to that area.
My unit hosted a company British light infantry, they were great we ran patrols, learned tactics, the tactics they used weren't so different from ours, plus we had many pints together, cheers mate !!
Having hauled supplies to a lot of these remote locations, it would be fun to talk about... but I, like you, am OPSEC aware....
We better not downscale!! It’s not a matter of “if” with China. It’s a matter of when!!
In the 80's we reduced
Exactly! The US should never downscale and people that say so are fools! The dude who made that list acts like something sinister is happening with these US bases, very annoying. They have already forgotten about WW1 and WW2.
Heck, just the Pentagon itself is a massive city underground. It even has nuclear reactors underground powering it. And thats just of what we are told about.
If the military is telling you something you never knew about before, they probably have something even more confidential
I spent a year i the early 90’s at BIOT and the Brits there, the Royal Marines and Custom cops were great people. Loved my time there!
the cost of maintaining these bases also discourages other countries from going to war, and real wars costs lives and money, so i do believe the cost of tax dollars is worth it as a sort of preventative maintenance to prevent war
Apparently there are only two US installations in Australia (where I live btw), Pine Gap and a Naval base in Western Australia. We have loads of room guys...don't be so stingy...lol. Just subbed to your channel, love ya work man.
maybe the DoD is scared of your local fauna?
More likely their local fauna killed all efforts to build more bases? 😁 Woe to any nation that tries to invade Australia lol
Your reaction in this video brother made me laugh. As I said before I spent 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and there is no way that I will ever believe that the DOD does not know an accurate inventory of forces or material. It’s easier for them to say they don’t know then it is to say we don’t want to tell you. As a royal Marines commando you know that if they gave out all of that information they’re providing public public information that becomes intelligence for the enemy. I remember one of the first things that I was told when I joined the Marine Corps bu a very experienced combat officer, “power perceived is power achieved“. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Joe Biden wants to reduce the military, enemy at the Gates.
More likely, he wants to find out much Trump has changed to undermine our foreign policy and presence, like when Trump pulled out troops and Russia rolled in the next day. And like with the covid vaccine plan (there wasn't one), so Joe has to sleuth out all the things Trump let slide, break, or worse. Joe is familiar with the armed forces and what they do and where they do it. He just needs to know how badly Trump fucked everything up.
They probably use the professor's list so that they know which bases NOT to disclose because they don't HAVE to because they don't WANT people to know about what they do there.
This list was obsolete as soon as it was published. Small installations are set up and torn down at a surprising rate. Two reasons why the Pentagon "doesn't know". One, an aspect of decentralization. Two, an effort to keep certain activities hidden (more likely).
The old military adage, "If one doesn't occupy the space, the enemy will".
A big reason the pentagon doesn't necessarily have the complete list is because each of the seperate command units are in charge of there areas around the world. The pentagon will have a general idea but they rely on the command units to manage the areas. It's part of what nakes them scary, each area operates within itself and not all of them play by the same rules
One of these audits takes place fairly regularly, and they ALWAYS have trillions of dollars unaccounted for... it’s incredible to think about.
I'm actually pretty surprised that we have so few in Canada...
Since we are neighbors we don't have to have bases in Canada since we have NAFTA I believe it's called. American Jets and Canadian Jets help defend each other's airspace.
@@shyryTsr2k It is that US air power (with tankers) are completely capable of covering all of that airspace if need be from Alaska and the contiguous US. Bases there are mutually run radar installations for the most part. You don't have to worry about a land invasion from the northern parts of Canada.
@@shyryTsr2k It’s NORAD. North American Aerospace Defense Command. NAFTA was the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, USA and Mexico. NAFTA was replaced by the USCMA under Trump.
@@MrsMoody01 oh lmao I'm sorry I totally forgot it's called NORAD. I know about the "secret" base that's inside of a mountain that is the base of NORAD but I just forgot it's name. Thanks a lot for this info!
@@franksmith4730 ohhhh I understand now. Thanks so much and I don't see why Canada would ever have a reason to invade us haha. Even if they did they definitely don't have the numbers or the tech but I do respect our Canadian counterparts 100% im just stating facts here.
Some are American nato bases. Especially in the UK.
If it’s not public knowledge then there’s a reason you don’t need to know and no one would tell you unless they were stupid just be happy with the knowledge you do have
As for size we know the number of troops and large assets…mostly. The problem is we have deep storage items in locations like Finland that is majority forgotten about. Spending wise we do our budgets in a “use or loose” fashion where you have to spend your entire budget every year…and then overspend by 10% or else you won’t get the same budget next year. In this there comes a lot of unaccounted for equipment and supplies where people just don’t know what conned box it’s in or even where it goes. Auditors could probably never find every bit of purchased gear in the budget.
I think it would be interesting for you to do a reaction on the new 6.8 weapon system the Army is developing