OT: Increased US military presence in Australia

[pmulcahy11b]

I'm not sure what basing 2500 Marines in Australia will do from the standpoint of US interests. From the Australian POV -- well, an American troop presence is always a mixed blessing. American troops are paid better then most of their counterparts in the world and they love to carouse and buy stuff for friends and family to send home, so economically it will be good for the community they're based in. But -- let's just say that American troops don't always put the best, shall we say, social face forward in other countries. Like I said, mixed blessing for the Australians.

[ArmySGT.]

Like the U.S.S. Maine.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Like the U.S.S. Maine.

Are you suggesting we blow up some of our own U.S. military assets in Australia and use it as justification to blame a third party and declare war on them in order to jack pieces of their empire and add it to our own?

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Are you suggesting we blow up some of our own U.S. military assets in Australia and use it as justification to blame a third party and declare war on them in order to jack pieces of their empire and add it to our own?

No.

More like an excuse to rally around when an incident occurs.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Like I said, mixed blessing for the Australians.

I'm just glad I'm at the other end of the country and Darwin is rather isolated as well. Can't imagine it will be all that popular a posting given the heat, the torrential rain in the wet season and remoteness. Darwin does have a few beaches, but surf is rarely more than a few inches (unless there's a cyclone and it might kick up to a massive foot or two in height).
FYI the local major pastime is beer drinking and we're not talking the coloured water Americans claim to be alcoholic either.

[HorseSoldier]

Probably a forward base for a MEU-ish sized unit, with surge capacity if more US forces are moving into/through the area for some sort of crisis. Basically a very small scale substitute (US base wise, not nation wise ) for what the Philipines used to bring to the table.

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I'm not sure what basing 2500 Marines in Australia will do from the standpoint of US interests. From the Australian POV -- well, an American troop presence is always a mixed blessing. American troops are paid better then most of their counterparts in the world and they love to carouse and buy stuff for friends and family to send home, so economically it will be good for the community they're based in. But -- let's just say that American troops don't always put the best, shall we say, social face forward in other countries. Like I said, mixed blessing for the Australians.

Half to disagree with the better pay part with the delcining US Dollar most troop posted outside CONUS might they no longer have a bigger bang for the US buck when is come to exchange rate, and according to the US personel we have in my unit we have more benfits than the US troops and pay is a little higher due our cost of living.

[HorseSoldier]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

Half to disagree with the better pay part with the delcining US Dollar most troop posted outside CONUS might they no longer have a bigger bang for the US buck when is come to exchange rate, and according to the US personel we have in my unit we have more benfits than the US troops and pay is a little higher due our cost of living.

If they're on duty OCONUS they should get cost of living allowance pegged to offset any discrepancy in the dollar versus, er, well, the dollar in this case. Though that just helps pad things out a bit, it doesn't transform a place into something like the post-WW2 garrisons in Germany or Japan where being posted even on enlisted soldier pay was probably kind of like winning the lottery for a couple years.

[Legbreaker]

Currently the Australian dollar is hovering around parity with the US dollar.