What % of U.S. TROOPS are in the Middle East?

[Journeyman]

just curious if anyone knows the numbers?

I never really thought about the exact numbers, anyone know?

 

[jimbutorac]

Journey,

I can't quote every source but believe currently we have 120,000 armed forces personnel in Iraq and about 1.4 million overall.

However, it gets tricky because some of the Armed Forces personnel in Iraq are reservists and National Guard which do not count against the 1.4 million overall total. Also, many military personnel typically have no reason to deploy in time of war. Examples: military personnel working in foreign embassies, recruiting duty, in the National Security Agency just to name a few.

So plain stats, say about 9 percent. However, it strains the military much more than that as it consumes a larger percentage of deployable personnel and resources. Sorry for convoluted answer.

Mud

 

[barman]

What he said.

Oh, and it does cause the libertarian part of my brain to say MAN! when I realize that we actually have over a million U.S. military personnel all over the damn place...Iraq is just a highly magnified demonstration of our tax dollars at work.