4. Overseas bases maintain the global hegemony of the U.S. military

Traditionally, most of the largest bases of the US military are in Germany, Japan, and South Korea. Later some adjustments were made, and the German garrison was gradually withdrawn. Judging by the situation of the US military branches, the strength of the Pacific headquarters has surpassed that of the European headquarters.

The base is a fixed garrison location of the US military, and it is the setting of the command structure and troop structure of the US military, just like the major military regions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, such as Shenyang, Beijing, Jinan, Lanzhou, Guangzhou, and Chengdu Military Regions. The United States is different, the largest of the US military was originally the European headquarters, and now the largest is the Pacific headquarters, as well as the southern headquarters, the central headquarters, and so on, and several of the headquarters are overseas.

For example, the Pacific Hawaii headquarters in Hawaii is located in Hawaii, with Hawaii, the 50th state of the United States, as the core. The Hawaii Pacific Headquarters includes Japan, South Korea, and parts of the Philippines; The U.S. Pacific Headquarters, which included Vietnam and Southeast Asia throughout the Vietnam War, including the Changi Sea and Air Base in present-day Singapore, shows that the scope of US troops stationed overseas is quite large.

According to the Americans themselves, the five major overseas headquarters of the US military, plus other special operations commands such as the Transportation Command, and the Aviation Command are called the nine headquarters. Overseas Combat Command is all stationed overseas and relies entirely on the support of overseas bases.

The trouble is that the formation of the Africa Command is a part of the forces separated from the Middle East headquarters, which is directly involved in the issue of overseas bases. Where is AFRICOM headquarters located? It chose several countries in Africa, most of which were opposed. Only one Liberia has ever expressed its willingness to do so, but it has been unanimously opposed by North African countries because of the greater temptation of profits, and in the end it has no choice but to retreat.

Later, the U.S. military had no choice but to place the African Command in Germany. The largest base system of the US military was originally in Germany, but later it became more and more influential in the Middle East, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Before the Iraq War, during the Gulf War, the US military actually had quite a few bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as fixed storage locations for equipment. It was able to quickly expel the Iraqi Republican Guard from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War, supported by a large number of surrounding bases.

Later, on the basis of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen and other Middle East base groups, the base group in Iraq is also very large, and has extended to Central Asia. On the whole, in the process of shifting from Europe to Asia, the US military has formed a huge base group in the Middle East and Central Asia, and Japan and South Korea also have a fairly large base group.

The United States is like a giant octopus eager to extend its military tentacles to every corner of the world. To build military bases overseas, we must have strong national strength as a backing. Since so much money is spent, these military bases do play a large role in safeguarding the strategic interests of the United States.

The global hegemony of the US military, not just a presidential statement, has achieved global deployment, and the base is a key point. Not only the soldiers, but also its life and influence. For example, in 2008, the United States spent more than $500 billion on military spending, accounting for 40 percent of the world's total military spending. In fact, this expenditure does not take into account another amount of money, which is the cost of the war on terror. It is listed in addition to ordinary military spending. That is, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, and the money for these two wars was allocated by the US Congress alone. The bases in Iraq and Afghanistan form a group of bases in the Middle East and Central Asia, and the expenditures of these two bases are in addition to military spending and are supported by counter-terrorism costs.

To achieve global reach and global influence, the US military base is not just a springboard, but actually a force point. In 2003, when President George W. Bush announced that he would start the war in Iraq, where did this force come from? It is not from the United States - of course, the United States has a large number of transports, but from the US military bases in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain. At that time, the problem was Turkey, where the US military had a large number of bases, but Turkey, taking into account various factors, did not allow the US military to use these bases to directly attack Iraq. Because of this move, it caused great trouble to the United States, and even directly affected the deployment of the first digital division at that time, the fourth mechanized infantry division. If Turkey had allowed it to deploy at its bases in Turkey, it would have been a north-south attack on Iraq: Kuwait in the south and Turkey in the north.

Within the U.S. military, as well as our country's military analysts and commentators, they are all saying that with the improvement of the mobility of the U.S. military, if the projection force can directly reach the world from the mainland, what is the point of the base? And the connection of information networks, the control of the global situation, and the change in the means of transport of troops, everything proves that the base is of little significance. In addition, the cost of maintaining the base is very high, and there will be some conflicts with the local people - you can see that the Japanese and South Korean people continue to protest against the pollution of the local environment by aircraft noise; During the Cold War, when the German garrison was large, the protests of the German people; Including Japan's ban on US aircraft carriers entering Japanese ports, the Liberal Democratic Party government reached a secret agreement with the United States: "You can come in quietly without making a noise in advance." "It's a big uproar in Japan – it's all a hassle from overseas bases.

This kind of argument has been talked about too much, and it has created a false impression: It seems that there is a tendency for overseas bases to disappear, as if the Americans have begun to take the lead in reducing bases. It is true that the US military is adjusting and reducing its bases, but the reduction of this base does not mean that the bases are useless, but mainly because the financial expenditure is too large, the security posture has changed, and the strategic focus has shifted. For example, the number of bases in Europe is very large, and the number of bases in Germany is very large, and they have been gradually closed and gradually reduced, and the troops have been transferred out, the equipment has been transferred, and the bases have been handed over to the locals.

We don't see the bases that have really been reduced due to the speed of informatization and the development of long-range delivery. These existing bases still play a very important role overseas. No matter how fast you can deliver your power remotely, in Iraq and Afghanistan, your lightly armed personnel can be quickly transported by plane, but heavy equipment such as tanks - a tank is more than 40 tons, US tanks have reached 58 tons, and M1A2 has reached 62 tons - such a large weight, there is no way for the plane to transport it. By sea, it is generally 20 days to a month, or even more. What to do? It is still necessary to rely on the base to store a large amount in advance.

There are bases to reserve personnel, supplies, fuel, equipment, ammunition, so that the future will be very fast and comprehensive in global operations. If you map the world, you can see that there are many US military bases all over the world. It has withdrawn unimportant bases, but those important bases are still at various key points, including the Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, and the Western Pacific, including Europe, where bases are densely populated, and troops are stationed and equipment are hoarded to support future military operations.

Even under the conditions of informationization and even under the condition of increased long-range delivery capabilities, overseas bases still play a very important role for countries like the United States that operate globally.