I think Ireland would have a problem being lumped in with the United Kingdom, seeing as they are a different country and all. Northern Ireland, on the other hand…
I said England and I stand by it. It’s about time for a war to see who’s going to dominate the UK once and for all.
One nation that hasn’t been mentioned is a military power many people overlook; Canada. Canada has a strong economy, a first rate military, and experience fighting overseas. At the very least, I’m sure they could kick Turkey’s ass.
Don’t apologize at all – excellent post and welcome to the SDMB. You’re just the sort we like around here.
(although you will need to improve your citing skills. 1979 indeed. ;))
Being Canadian, I’d love to be able to say that Canada is a formidable military power, but I can’t. Even during the height of the cold war, Canada’s NATO role was anti-submarine patrolling, and we were very good at it. But we never did have much in the way of large ground forces, and our air force, while modern, has become a joke. I read recently that we have almost no combat effectiveness since the Gulf war, because we still haven’t replaced the missiles and bombs we shot off!
We have a small, effective military for peacekeeping missions, and having 150 or so F-18’s doesn’t hurt. But we have zero force projection capability, and we don’t even have a defensive force that could protect us from invasion. We rely on the U.S. for that.
From what I understand, we DO have a very, very good anti-terrorism unit that would rank up there with the SAS and SEALS, that almost no one knows about, and I believe it has already been deployed.
As far as the Armed Forces go, I believe that EIRE’s regiments fight in the British army – I could be wrong tho
The Welsh would win. How can a regiment that has a goat mascot that outrank 75% of the regiment ever lose?