The Russian newspaper "Pravda" published a report in which the military historian Andrei Nikolaev discussed the reasons that push the United States to fight proxy wars.

The report asked what it called the reasons why the United States does not hesitate to unleash conflicts without directly implicating its forces in them, and is satisfied with supporting the party that serves its interests in the international arena. To the force that authorizes it to engage in direct conflicts?

wars

For the past 30 years, Pravda says, the United States has fought directly three major armed conflicts, one in Afghanistan and two in Iraq.

It has also been involved in many other military conflicts such as Yugoslavia, Libya and Syria, but most of them were proxy wars in which they provided support to the party serving their interests among the local warring parties.

The author of the report pointed out that the participation of US ground forces in these wars is almost non-existent, and they are mainly limited to special operations forces and small units of the Marine Corps.

According to the writer, the foreign policy of the United States in such operations relies on the Air Force, as it ensures that strikes are conducted hundreds of miles away from the target without endangering the lives of the pilots.

With the invention of the drone, the potential for impunity for the US military and policy makers has multiplied.


US Army size

According to the book "Military Balance" issued by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which assesses the military capabilities and defense economy of 171 countries and analyzes through the attached tables and data the detailed entries and the list of military forces for each country and the number of employees, the US armed forces include about one million and 400 thousand soldiers in addition to 800 One thousand reservists are known as the "National Guard".

Of the approximately 1.4 million soldiers, the United States allocates a group to carry out combat operations on the ground, which in turn is divided into the ground forces of 500,000 soldiers, and the Marine Corps, which includes 180,000 soldiers.

US Army Distribution

The US Marine Corps is spread all over the world, some serving as expeditionary units on landing ships, others as detachments of ships as well as security for embassies, for example the Marines secure the location of the US Embassy in Moscow.

A large part of the armed forces is concentrated in the US military bases located on foreign lands, which number about 800 bases, according to the author.


US packing

The author of the report says that the US military resorts to the old practice called "mobilization", during which it calls up reservists.

In 1990, the United States simultaneously called up about 250,000 reservists for the war in Iraq.

Between 2001 and 2016, the United States called up reservists regularly in small batches.

Later, it became clear that the total number of reserve soldiers called up during these 15 years was close to 200,000.

The writer acknowledges that the American reserve soldier is different from the Russian, whose relationship with the training camp ends once the service period ends.

On the other hand, the American reserve soldier demands 4 hours per week for combat training and participation in training camps that last from two to three weeks once a year.

In return for serving in the reserves, the American receives a salary from the Pentagon.

According to Andrei, the author of the report, the above figures and examples clearly show that no matter how large the army is, in the event of major military conflicts, an increase in numbers is always required, as is the need to prepare a reserve army.

These numbers also show that no matter how many missiles and combat aircraft there are, the lack of a sufficient number of ground forces will always be a hindrance to combat operations on the ground.