Military Should Review Deployments

Rajan Menon’s commentary (“Fitting the Military to Reality,” July 16) has hit the nail on the head. Indeed, what is the point of 368,900 troops spread across 120 countries? Are they there because of outdated mutual defense treaties?

It is one thing to have our troops scattered across the world if our government believes there is a need to protect our interests and assert our influence. If this is the case, we need to explicitly lay out why these troops are deployed. It is another thing if we have our troops stationed across those 120 countries because of outdated thinking. Menon is correct. The European Union, Japan and the others should be strongly encouraged to undertake their own defense from whatever threats they perceive. As Menon rightly points out, the United States cannot retreat into isolationism -- despite the wishful thinking of some. What we do need is clearheaded and rational thinking about future dangers and how we can appropriately prepare and respond to them.

Martin Parker

Thousand Oaks