HOW MANY US MILITARY BASES IN THE WORLD ARE SUFFICIENT? OR PRUDENT?

[AQUAMAN]

From the last accounts, except for the pending Independence of Sudan, there are a total of 195 separate countries in the world at present. The USA now has 761 Military bases throughout the entire world in activity right now, that's calculated at 3.9 per country, for arguments sake, I'll round that off to 4, ok. Does anyone have any opinion as to whether they think this is too many, or too few?  And the related annual costs of such a presence? And for what exactly? No, I'm not talking about US Embassy's  here, but armed and military personnel type bases that house literally thousands of armed military troops ready for deployment and action. Doesn't this burden of cost seem unnecessary? Or is it a must now? Just curious on opinions, thanks.

[Max]

I'm sorry y'all for keeping you in suspense...I was being sarcastic.  I am for closing most, if not all of our foreign bases.  They are not needed for our defense, only for protecting an empire.

[XLFD]

Thanks for the clarification.  It's just hard to imagine why most are still around, when most liberal and conservative thinkers believe it to be absurd to have such a large amount of bases.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Does the 761 bases accounted for here include the ones in the United States?

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

No Lisa they don't... And I can attest to the fact the list is not complete either if you include covert ops bases.

[AQUAMAN]

Sometimes Max and I just momentarily play the Devil's advocate, just to see if anyone is listening and awake.........lol. I think shutting down at least half of the most obsolete and unnecessary bases to start would be a good step in the right direction for the budget woes. I also know that the aircraft carrier example given earlier is not relevant, as these fortresses are totally self-contained with nuclear power and enough supplies for the 5,000 personnel aboard. Bases do not resupply them at all, they are independent bases unto themselves at sea, and are resupplied at USA bases as well as other ships at sea. The "American Empire" mentality at present needs to be tamed way down, and eventually, curtailed to only the most absolute necessary to stay open. It's time we started taking care of the US citizenry here at home first, lest we forget whom is paying for all this extravagance and glory gone wild.

[AQUAMAN]

Just looked at this post again, and here we are, almost 2 years later, and what bases of obsolete status and unnecessary use have we shut down yet? None that I know of on the record. And counting, counting, how much waste does this country need to keep enduring, while budgets are strained to the maximum?