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The US doesn't have foreign military bases on their soil but they do host "rotational bases" meaning foreign militaries can come in to these bases for "training purposes and bilateral ties" the same goes vice versa with countries the US doesn't have bases in (Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan etc.) And it's not just USS seawolf it's seawolf class submarines

"They went as far as gassing the local's pet dogs as a show of seriousness." "You shot my dog you bastard" is as good a war cry as any.

People: US spends so much on military, they must have hyper advanced technology by now. Where US military budget actually goes:

The title is a little misleading, as it seems to imply the base strategy doesn't make sense and is flawed for some reason. But it works exactly as the US Military intended it to and is amazing at projecting power internationally, as not cool and imperialistic that may be.

As a small KZfaqr it amazes me how well put together your videos are how long does it take for you to research them.

I think of a lot of these as pre-built logistics. Like a set of bases-in-waiting that could be expanded upon if the US interest in a region changes. Instead of starting from nowhere with a bunch of tents you have the landing pads, sheds, wire fences and skeleton crew in place. US naval and air power wants their own logistics around the world. It's a lot easier to refuel a jet in Qatar or pilot a drone from a container somewhere on an island than doing it from the US mainland.

The base in the middle of the Australian outback was placed there so that any communications going in and out of it wouldn't be able to be picked up by ships on the Australian coast.

What is so special about the Seawolf class that you should point to it as something special in a hush hush conspiratorial manner? The US has no less than seventy two nuclear submarines ALL of which are just as capable as the Seawold class of sneaking close to shore. If you want to single out special submarines that specifically function as mobile bases, you should perhaps instead point to the Ohio Class Guided Missile Submarines of which there are four. These are former Boomers, ballistic missile nuclear submarines, that have been converted to carry an utterly massive arsenal of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. Furthermore, they are outfitted to be able to host a force of 66 Special Forces soldiers with all necessary equipment to support and deploy them stealthily.

Didn't the British trade Diego Garcia with the US in WWII, in exchange for multiple US destroyers?

As for Philippines , US used to have a Military Bases Agreement which was signed in 1950s with PH where US Military Bases in The Philippines are fully Controlled by US but that changed in 1992 when US withdrew their Naval Forces at U.S Naval Station Subic located in Northwest of Manila used to be the largest US Naval Base in Southeast Asia. now it’s been replace for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement “EDCA” where US can still Station Troops and Military Jets, Planes and stockpile of Military hardwares at Bases where both PH and US Govt agreed those bases are Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay both in Northern Luzon, PH these are Joint Bases Facilities of US and PH it houses both Philippine Military and US Military Troops, Clark Air Base in Pampanga Province even though it’s under PH Air Force since 1991 now they still use Clark Air Base for their surveillance flights in South China Sea and also Clark is where they usually held their Balikatan exercises, US Troops mostly Marines in Southern Philippines (Zamboanga City) stationed at Edwin Andrews Air Base and Camp Navarro have been stationed there since 2001 it was part of their Operation Enduring Freedom- Philippines now “Operation Pacific Eagle” to support Philippine armed forces war against Insurgency. This agreement is a legal framework for US Troops Deployment and Stationing in Philippines under the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty which was also signed in 1950s, For me US Have both pros and cons bad part is US Troops have a bad history in PH involving prostitutions outside the base of Subic Naval Base back in 70s,80s to 90s but that’s in the past and can be forgiven the good part is US is really helping its allies by providing aid, good security and humanitarian aid , For me if US Troops needs an early Curfew to avoid Prostitution bars at night so be it but As a Filipino I support Philippines for still hosting US Forces why? Because PH Military still needs guidance whether we like it or not we still lack of Military Equipments of our own second we need good intelligence with them especially with our war with insurgents in the South third People’s Republic of China kept harassing Philippine Coast Guard and local Fishermen in our territorial waters claiming all part of China we can’t fight China on our own. US is not perfect it has a lot of flaws and BS politicians but it is still way better than China and Russia and that’s only my opinion.

I'm pretty sure Mauritius doesn't have a US base, unless you are grouping Diego Garcia with Mauritius (which is currently controlled by the UK).

Video title: The US's Military Base Strategy Doesn't Make Sense Video content: Explains why US's military base strategy makes sense

Those red dots at the beginning aren’t only just American bases, e.g Ascension Island is UK overseas territory. And has an RAF base. No American planes are permanently based there

9:50 Funny thing is Taiwan's ADIZ overlaps a significant chunk of mainland China so they're violating Taiwan's ADIZ the moment the planes take off.

The video timing strategy is insane

Nice video with some good information. Have never heard about those Lilly Pads before. Thanks. However, a few notes to take: 1. The USS Connecticut (Seawolf-class), this year, had a "situation", in the South China Sea, on October 2nd. Some 11 sailors were injured and since then, the submarine has been repaired back home. China has several times, asked the US, whether any radioactive leak occurred? But to the best of my knowledge the US has not replied. The official story is that an accident occurred, however, although they do happen, from time to time, there has also been speculations about a chinese weapon, of some sort. By the way, as you I am also from Denmark, and I am pretty sure that one of our advanced companies delivered some part-technology to the skin of the submarine, - years ago that is. But I am not completely sure. 2. In terms of the base-strategy, it is working fine, as long as the bases/locations, do not have to defend them selfs. But with the new drone capabilities, in the domain of war, they may be in danger, in the future. Because, even poor militias, now have the capability, to acquire and use them. And poor local militias are not the only entities who wants to punish the US military. Plenty of international terror organisations have the same objective.

@7:55 There is a so called 'World Peace' we are living in. Peace has been a rare occurrence in human history and this, now, is one of the longest periods of peace. 'The Fallen of Wold War II' has a great visualisation of what 'War" and "Peace" mean in terms of number of lives lost.

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus - The original Latin of the expression "if you want peace, prepare for war"

I think the US has a few soldiers at Denmark's largest airbase Flyvestation Karup. I can't really find anything about it but I'm pretty sure I have read about it. Perhaps it was a thing in the past history. I think it makes sense if they have a few soldiers at friendly allies. But if this also is a thing in other countries then it could be quite important.

I love how you take inspiration from other creators and make your own unique spin to it. Wonderful job brother.

Well, any war that occurred post WWII has been either a civil war or an isolated regional conflict. Does that count as success? Hard to say.

What this video failed to show is that USA also has bases on the moon, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Mars, Uranus... The only body in the solar system which they have yet to setup a base on is the sun.

I am so sad to hear about OBFs recent suicide. His videos were so good and it was such an unfortunate accident.

Is it just me, or are the mountains on the right-hand side of the screen at 11:58 just WAYYY too symmetrical. The mountains are a complete mirror image of each other. @OBF could you tell me where you sourced this image from, please?

Very good video. That seawolf website is kinda funny, i'd like to imagine it hosts only a picture of those ocean going Vancouver Island wolfs

Filipino here. I can attest about the US soldiers secretly camping here in the Island of Mindanao. During the Marawi Siege, they just popped out of nowhere and started giving useful intel. Also, there is a very famous mountain range here in Bukidnon where a indigenous peoples would suddenly awoken by the sound of a Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy taking off from nowhere. We can only surmised that they have a hidden cave base in that particular mountain.

Quality content, but it would be worthwhile to look into a second opinion or perspective on this topic, as it seems like there’s a lot of conclusions made on information that isn’t entirely fully researched

you should do a video about the Russian sub Belgorod, one scary piece of machinery (currently at sea somewhere in the Atlantic), especially when equipped with its 6 status six "Poseidon" city killing torpedoes.

I live in Victoria bc and once in the sailish sea there was a military helicopter that landed on a submarine

as someone from the us, learning about my country from a foreign perspective is so, SO refreshing

You guys do great videos keep up the good work. Subscribed

What the video doesn't mention is that a lot of those bases were set up in accordance with host nations at their discretion because they wanted US presence in that region or area for whatever motives from their point of view.

“An *estimated* of 514 bases.” Me as secretary of Defense: Huh? Damn bruh, better check behind the couch- I think 300 whole bases spontaneously went missing. How didn’t we notice this? My PA: we have too many to keep track of all.

This is a great video, but how did u get this information?

Recently a Seawolf-class submarine had a collision with an underwater structure or mountain, which prompted it to surface and head back to the states for repair. It was the USS Connecticut

gorgeous editing

The base on tinian island is actually fine and not for scrutiny as it is sovereign US soil

Its an interesting question. Power & Strength are an oxymoron as they are both deterrent yet invite challenge both by their shear existence.

Seawolf class Attack Submarines were practically the USN's pinnacle in sub to sub warfare.... until the cold war ended and the budget got cut and the price of the Sea wolf was viewed too expensive to continue production, thus why today you have the Virginia class which are essentially cheaper seawolfs.

It was getting good when it ended in the most important question

You can also say DARPA instead of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Pine gap base in Australia even had a TV show made about it.

I mean to be fair about other countries not having bases in the US, it’s far more likely the US would need to be able to respond rapidly in Europe or Asia for a conflict than any European or Asian countries would need to rapidly respond anywhere in The Americas

"new threats, like China and Russia" Lol, I never thought I'd here those words all together. I get what he means though.

You could say that America is very BASED.

Can we get sources because I want to know where this information is from.

you could've just called it DARPA, a name that is more familiar to most.

One reason why the us spends so much is the sheer size of its economy. When excluding China you need the next 7 biggest economies to get the same gdp. You could also say 3-4% isn't an absurd amount to spend on your military. Especially when you want to have military presence everywhere and have to do alot for nato

Every time OBF uploads 🤤

That curiosity stream plug was so smooth.

There are no sources in yout video or in your description for any of this, for example, with the Chagos Islands deportations. Please cite what you are talking about somewhere?

could you do a UK verison of this

7:47 "I would love it if world peace became a reality but considering we know for a fact the United States already has more bases around the world than all other nations combined *and they still haven't achieved anything close to world peace*". Do you claim to know how the world would be without them? have you even given a single minute of thought to that mental exercise?

11:16 I was waiting for a segway to "But with this weeks sponsor, BlahBlah-VPN, YOU can access it on all your devices, for only 9.99$ per month"

9:55 its funny, because Taiwans airzone literally covers parts of mainland China, I cant imagine that it wasnt drawn that way intentionally to manufacture "invaded our airspace" stories every couple of months.

lesz gooooooooooooo OBF upload!!!!!

If anyone really wants to grasp the magnitude of the US military industrial complex take this into account. The 2 largest airforces in the world are 1: the USAF and 2: the USN I believe the Marines separately from the Navy have an air force in the top 5 certainly in the top 10 and the US army has by far the largest helicopter force in the world. We have more BASES ON FOREIGN SOIL THAN ALL BUT 2 OTHER NATIONS HAVE FIGHTER JETS! This is absurd to really wrap your head around

damn I had no idea about the seawolf submarine fleet after all these years. Guess that’s how they’d prefer it lol

PLEASE CORRECT! The Chagos Archipelago is the territory of the Republic of Mauritius, by a ruling for tge International Court of Justice. This is a big deal in Mauritius...please do the need full.

Hey man, good video, but I think it lacked some things, first of all, You only showed US African bases, and the specific cases of the Australian one, the island one and mentioned once Honduras, which I think it's a really centralized view of the topic, there are bases in South América, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and all of that. Also most bases are there because of COIN (counter-insurgency) operations, alliances and treaties, for example on África You have the ATA, in South América You have the Treaty of Rio and then You have NATO and some others, I would recommend You read the COIN handbook, I couldnt read all of it, but it has really interesting information regarding this topic. Finally, the US fleet on Asia it's mostly there because of the threat of China against Vietnam, The Philipines, Japan, South Korea and most importantly, Taiwan, maybe it also has something to do with the "recent" coup on Myanmar, but i'm not sure about that one.

I love your Channel

>"When it deployed it's military aircraft into Taiwan's air defense identification zone" You should state that Taiwan's air defense identification zone is literally 3x the size of Taiwan and takes up 40% of China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. It's incredibly misleading.

You say, "we knew nothing about this." but military Veterans know depending on what their job was... at the end you mentioned Okinawa... I was stationed there for 3 years. What a great culture and people. The elders there when I was there still held a grudge from WWII but everyone else seemed to welcome us. With the bases however, most of them there were Japanese WWII bases.

I don't see an alternative to U.S. presence around the world that is any better. In fact, they all seem worse.

Its amazing how he only has a surface level knowledge on all of these topics, but talks which such authority. He either doesn't provide context for any of his statements or entirely exaggerates them. Unfortunately, since most people have even less of an understanding of these topics this all seems very interesting and helpful.

On the plus side, on Diego they make good pizza, have no shortage of beer and the beaches are spectacular! Interestingly, whilst DG is occupied by circa 2000 US military, it is actually policed by British Police Officers! This makes for an amusing spectacle if things get out of hand. Japanese Sniper.

Seawolfs are not often heared off because there are so few hulls compared to the "newer" Virginia class subs. Seawulf was designed for duking it out with USSR ship formations and has high endurance and weapon payload but was waaaay to expenceive to be build in large numbers with the end of the cold war. Also as a arsenal ship its not nesseraryly the best ship to operate in the costal reginas very close to china. plus US anti ship weapons fell of quite a bit compared to some other nations who keeps inovation going in teh face of countermesures that didnt existed or wasnt mature during the cold war.

Are you honestly going to make the case that southern Africa has no non-US military bases? :|

There is a lot of misinformation on this video, the US has been contracting from overseas for decades. Also, Diego Garcia was not inhabited when the Europeans found it. The "locals" were shipped there to harvest non native produce. Perspective is important.

what was that, you think we need MORE bases, i agree, more bases more freedom

It has always blown my mind that government agencies have the ability to show us what they want us to see for all we know they do what we think they do but they could j say that and do something else

While I don’t necessary agree with the tone of video (highly critical of the dominant US force around the globe, without mentioning that stability in these regions probably would exist without them) this is a well made vid and doesn’t lie.

You forgot our paratrooper corps. The force projection abilities to put a division inside enemy territory within 24 hrs has quite the chilling effect on nations looking to start trouble in their neighborhood.

There's an Australian TV Series called Pine Gap. It's pretty good. I'd recommend it if you're into black ops, government secrets etc.

Germany has a airforce base in Texas.

They also bring bad conduct among their own troops, causing problems with locals.

So, as someone who lived in Okinawa and worked on a base for 5 years, I can tell you that the base isn't "despised." The older generation (those that remember what things were like during and just after WWII want it gone. However the current and previous generation have enjoyed a huge economic increase due to the influx of US personnel and money. The bases also provide jobs, hiring local nationals working for contract agencies, and many of the people I worked along side were Japanese nationals. I'm not saying this translates to other bases around the world, but at least with the bases in Okinawa, they're actually quite fond of the US presence.

why Lily Pads? "Fight the Enemy at their homeland, not ours"

1:50 I dunno man, the Cocos Islands look a little small to house FIFTY whole military bases.

The research in the video is so incredibly well done. I just just discovered this channel, but you definitely have a new subscriber

You point out the large number of bases the US has around the world but fail to point out that many of those bases have very few personnel, with some having as few as 5 persons. If the US puts 20 soldiers/airmen/sailors in a location to train other nations troops or to simply maintain ground base satellite reception station with 10 persons, they call it a base. Wherever they put personnel they call it a base, so for your viewer, let be clear there aren't 500 bases with army brigades in each of them. Many of the larger bases are often bases of the host country and may have hundreds or thousands of host country troops and have 30 or maybe 60 us personnel training or assisting them. Some locations are logistic sites simple transport and storage sites for material, for example lots of the material the US needs to help defend Europe are warehoused overseas with small security and logistic personnel detachments. You also make is seem like they are mostly hidden from the public which is not true. You mention Diego Garcia stating that we don't hear much about it, that is simple not the case. Some of the controversy regarding you mention about DG is true, but it has been public knowledge. I have known about DG since I was in my early teen as it has based various US bombers over the years and is a naval support facility since WWII. Just because "you" have not heard of something before does not mean it is hidden. The omissions and mischaracterizations of this video take away for its good points.

4:03 Only a dane would dare to say that. haha

“Bases”😂😂 that’s a heluva reach

The US has bases in other nations, almost invariably in agreement with those nations and for regional security issues. The US has no need for regional security from foreign nations. Hence, no bases. Your video could have benefited from either a different perspective or more thorough research.

Im from South Africa, this is very incorrect 🤣 you have literally spoken about maybe 10% of the bases in the whole of africa

“As long as the respect national waters” -> something they frequently do not do, having not signed up to the Law of the Sea convetion.

Tell me about all of the years of military service that you have????

Your videos are always high quality, great content. Thank you.

*THE CIA WANTS TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION*

The Seawolf isn't the cool one. Jimmy Carter is the test platform and has a 100ft blacked out section.

This video definitely won me as a subscriber 👍 great topic

Havent watched yet, but if isnt about how we surround enemy nations then im going to be moderated interested

Most of these “military bases” are quite literally logistics hubs or weather stations with 10-50 man crews. It is worth noting that other nations will use our bases too? The US needs a million bases around the world so we can push our democratic values that are ALSO within our allies interests. There shall not be any drawbacks unless our democratic friends (NATO/EU/etc) decide to foot the bill.

Can someone confirm a list of type of international base types? BIGGEST:FOB (ex. camp Bastion) Support base or station (logistical can have airfield or dock for feuling) Floating base (carrier or transport with taskforce) Firebase (at least has artillery) Outpost ( maybe battalion but mainly company size or less) Lilypad (could be seen as non combat but may operate drones or attached to commercial airfields) SMALLEST: Observation post Bonus: black site seems to be CIA therefore administrative on paper could operate out of any on the list to blend in.

0:45 turn on CC. You’re welcome.

"Do these bases cause the wars they were created to prevent?" Damn.

Talks about the seawolf-class submarines. No mention of the more than a dozen Ohio-class SSBNs that carries nearly up to 288 nuclear warheads.

This was a beautiful last sentence amd a great video

Now its not called secret as we are seeing it in this videos