Newsday (New York) January 24, 2005
Boots on the ground
By Newsday Graphic/Gustavo Pabon; Researched By J. Stephen Smith
The war in Iraq dramatically changed the look of U.S. forces deployed worldwide as more than a quarter-milion soldiers were rushed into the region. Troop rotations and withdrawals have reduced the number, but the U.S. still maintains a considerable presence in Iraq and surrounding countries.
Below are U.S. troop deployments in select nations and enlistment figures for each branch of service as of September 2004.
Air Force
376,616
Army
499,543
Marines
177,480
Navy
373,197
2002 2003 2004
Germany 68,701 74,796 76,058
South Korea 37,743 41,145 40,840
Japan 41,848 40,519 36,365
Iraq 0 183,002 146,400
Afghanistan* 12,000 17,900 8,500
Italy 12,466 13,152 12,606
Britain 10,258 11,616 11,469
Bosnia & Herzegovina** 3,082 3,041 951
Qatar 71 2,997 273
Turkey 1,587 2,021 1,762
Spain 2,621 1,893 2,012
Iceland 1,665 1,747 1,491
Belgium 1,458 1,526 1,474
Bahrain 1,560 1,514 1,712
Portugal 992 1,094 1,006
Kuwait* 567 51,000 38,160
Cuba / Guantanamo 549 697 682
*Estimated
**Peacekeeping mission ended November 2004, near-complete withdrawal under way.
By the numbers
A summary of U.S. military deployments since September 2002
Sept. 2002 Sept. 2003 Sept. 2004
Total worldwide 1,411,634 1,434,377 1,426,836
Total stateside 1,181,850 1,065,408 1,139,034
Total foreign 230,484 368,969 287,802
Percent stateside 83.7 74.3 79.8
Percent foreign 16.3 25.7 20.2
SOURCES: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, WWW.GLOBALSECURITY.ORG, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION, PROJECT ON DEFENSE ALTERNATIVES
© Copyright 2005, Newsday, Inc.
