I knew there was a reason why they bug me…
No, I’m thinking big honking quasi-urban developments of foreign troops with tanks or jets. Are there Canadian ones that I don’t know about? WHAT ARE THEY KEEPING FROM ME? :eek:
If you did whoring and drinking as your main job between 0800-1800, then I MIGHT consider rescinding the warning.
samclem
There are 650 German Air Force troops at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico:
http://www.holloman.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4364
It’s easier to train pilots somewhere with lots of open space.
That’s not quite true. The years between the Civil and Spanish-American wars were pretty peaceful. Ditto between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. But of course, then along came the 20th century.
Which was the other stuff (which might be relevant to GQ)?
BS.
Says the guy who sold the majority of his records after going down in a hail of gunfire.
There are apparently lots of foreign military troops in small groups at various American bases:
Drunken fraulein
Okay okay, someone’s already been told off for cracking a similar joke, but since factual answers have alread… okay I have no excuse
Well… only a couple dozen Indian wars, campaigns vs pirates, various “Yankee trader” expeditions to force various locals to sign favorable trade treaties by sabre point, and of course increasing interventions in Latin America. By my count there are less than a dozen years in the 19th century where the US wasn’t at war with (or conducting military operations against) someone.
Depending on how you break it down there are something like 50-60 named US wars in the 19th Century and about half as many in the 20th. But regardless of century there has almost always been a war available for the adventurous lad (and recently lass) to go fight in.
Believe it or not, there used to be a lot more than that.
(Roughly two-thirds of the way down.)
And one big waste of equipment.
But the OP specifically asked what you guys did all day. What you did all night was off topic.
As someone who was also stationed in Germany, and had a son stationed there, that is, actually, a factually correct answer. Not a complete one, but a correct one.
Go back and read news articles about attacks and offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq, you’ll likely find mention about injured troops being airlifted to Germany, so the bases there are not useless.
Well sometimes we worked nights.
I promise when I have more time I will add more if all my information has not been covered by then.
Thanks. Lot of previous thread cites in those.
Right now there are 4 Brigades of troops in Germany. When I was first in Germany there were 2 Armored Cavalry Regiments, 4 Divisions and a couple of other separate Brigades. All under the command of 2 separate Corps. A lot of troops spread over a large area.
As stated earlier troops in Germany do what troops do every where. They train. There are two major training complexs run by the US Army in Germany (like most of the bases, former Nazi bases). Grafenwohr is a large live fire training area. Hohenfels is a large maneuver training area. Regardless of where you are stationed in Germany, you wind up spending a lot of your time in either of those two places. Some of the training is joint with other NATO allies including the Germans. Some is getting ready for the next deployment. In the 90s Germany was the jumping off point for operations in Kosevo. 1991 was the first time an already forward deployed unit was further deployed when VII Corps was sent to Saudi Arabia. When not in the field most garrison troops work M-F and have nights off. The work day consists of training and maintenance. So again, as stated before, they do what troops everywhere do.
And by the way, I didn’t make a joke. It was a literary allusion. From my favorite play, 1776.
[John Adams volunteers to visit New Brunswick after a report is given of Washington’s soldiers being afflicted with venereal disease and alcoholism]
Adams: Wake up, Franklin, you’re going to New Brunswick!
Franklin: [Half asleep] Like hell I am. What for?
Hopkins: The whoring and the drinking!
[Franklin gets up and marches off right behind Adams]
US troops in places like Germany and South Korea act as a tripwire. They aren’t really there to defend those countries should the Russians (well, Soviets) or North Koreans do something stupid; their presence is a deterrent to keep those countries from doing something stupid in the first place. A few tens of thousands of extra troops probably aren’t going to make a difference in the outcome of a full on attack.
If the tripwire is broken, it means tens of thousands dead, wounded or captured Americans. Such high casualty numbers would compel a large retaliation by the US, a factor not lost (hopefully) on the Russians, North Koreans, Freedonians, etc. So part of the mission for these troops (and the reasoning behind their large numbers), even in 2013, is deterrence.
N/M…