# Has the United States ever allowed a foreign military presence on its soil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964 "2009-08-10T19:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/21 "2009-08-11T01:18:06Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > What about during, and in the immediate aftermath of the war of independence ? Presumably the large number of french troops involved would have been based somewhere prior to their withdrawl ? Prior to 1789, the United States as a sovereign nation did not exist. From 1776 until 1789, there were 13 independent sovereign nations in place of the former colonies. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/22 "2009-08-11T01:26:37Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Prior to 1789, the United States as a sovereign nation did not exist. From 1776 until 1789, there were 13 independent sovereign nations in place of the former colonies. The United States existed from 1776. Its juridical character altered in 1783, but that is irrelevant to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/23 "2009-08-11T03:59:06Z")
ISTR that right after 9-11, Canadian warplanes were permitted to fly in and out of U.S. airspace and provide patrols here on an expanded basis, but that was under the aegis of NORAD, I presume. We had a good bit of foreign assistance right after Katrina hit, too, some of which was military in nature (as **fiddlesticks** mentioned): [International response to Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/24 "2009-08-11T14:25:27Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Prior to 1789, the United States as a sovereign nation did not exist. From 1776 until 1789, there were 13 independent sovereign nations in place of the former colonies. > [@UDS](#): > > The United States existed from 1776. Its juridical character altered in 1783, but that is irrelevant to the OP. Duckster did not say that the U.S. did not exist; he stated that it was not a sovereign nation under the Articles of Confederation. And this is more or less true. Sovereign power under the Articles of Confederation rested solely with the individual States. During the war years (1776-1783), General Washington addressed his reports and requests for support to each of the various State governors, as well as the mostly ineffectual Confederation Congress. The United States in these years (and even after the Constitution was adopted) was universally referred to in the plural rather than the singular. Indeed, the U.S. prior to adoption of the Constitution was more akin to today’s NATO or EU than a nation in it’s own right. For that matter, the Constitution would never have been passed (particularly by influential Virginia) had not the issue of competing State versus Federal sovereignty been left intentionally vague at the time of adoption. This argument would continue for the next century, ultimately being a leading cause of the Civil War. (I am just finishing up [this book](http://www.amazon.com/American-Creation-Triumphs-Tragedies-Founding/dp/0307276457/ref=ed_oe_p).) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/25 "2009-08-11T14:50:37Z")
> [@Rodd\_Hill](#): > > **I’m in ur alooshans, garding yur northern fronteer:** > > [Annette Island, Alaska](http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-Annette.htm) > > (From above-linked page) Canadian Army troops were also supplied to assist in the recapture of Kiska Island (which had been abandoned by the Japanese a little more than a week earlier). ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/26 "2009-08-11T16:29:17Z")
Here’s a good starting point for military bases of both the US and UK: [Wikipedia Category:Overseas military bases](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Overseas_military_bases) ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/27 "2009-08-11T17:42:25Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Israel has a military base underneath the Freemason Temple in the middle of Area 51. :mad: What is the first rule about the Israeli base? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/28 "2009-08-11T19:26:19Z")
> [@robby](#): > > …(I am just finishing up [this book](http://www.amazon.com/American-Creation-Triumphs-Tragedies-Founding/dp/0307276457/ref=ed_oe_p).) Hey, I just started that myself. It would’ve been the Continental Congress until 1781; the Confederation Congress from then until 1789, when the Constitution was ratified and the U.S. Congress was elected. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/29 "2009-08-11T19:29:44Z")
As mentioned, the answer is ‘yes.’ The Germans maintain a base on Fort Bliss for ADA missile training. Neat German guard shack at the gate and everything. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964/30 "2009-08-11T20:38:38Z")
We have British Army troops stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. I’ve seen them around here for years. They also have their own vehicles here. I don’t know what units they’re with or how long an individual’s tour of duty is, but I’ve seen some of them and even talked to them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-united-states-ever-allowed-a-foreign-military-presence-on-its-soil/505964.md?page=1)