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
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