With the Memorial Day weekend approaching it seems that every blogger is obligated to acknowledge our military in some fashion with patriot slogans and photographs.  I’ve done that myself in the past but always felt a little odd doing it.  Being a former enlistee in the Army automatically makes me a fanatical supporter of our servicemen and servicewomen.  When I was actively serving I never really wished for a lot of hoopla about it, just a plain old "thank you for your service" would have sufficed.  Of course being of the Vietnam generation we received very little in the way of attention that wasn’t biased by the ever present anti-war movement and media. Years later in a politically correct move the country finally decided we should be acknowledged by building us a freaking wall.

The following list is an approximation of the countries where our troops are assigned and the number of troops in each country as of 2010. This is an official Thank You from me to each of them.  I thank them not only for their service but their sacrifices as well. It’s not an easy thing to leave your family and friends and be shipped off to God knows where to possibly fight and die.  I pray they all stay safe and return home as soon as possible.

United States – 1,123,219

Afghanistan – 68,000

Alaska – 21,280

Australia – 183

Bahrain – 2,902

Belgium – 1,165

Canada – 146

Qatar – 800

Diego Garcia – 516

Djibouti – 139

Egypt – 292

Germany – 45,596

Guam – 5,646

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – 988

Greece – 361

Greenland – 138

Hawaii – 49,242

Honduras – 388

Italy – 10,916

Japan – 52,692

Jordan – 200

Kuwait – 15,000

Netherlands – 374

Norway – 90

Philippines – 131

Portugal – 713

Puerto Rico – 162

Saudi Arabia – 278

Singapore – 180

South Korea – 28,500

Spain – 1,600

Thailand – 114

Turkey – 1,491

United Arab Emirates – 193

United Kingdom – 9,310

This posting also remembers those soldiers who’ve paid the ultimate price in protecting this country as stated so eloquently by Thomas Jefferson: 

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. — Thomas Jefferson