Is the United States un-defended?

With the majority of US forces now stationed throughout the world, and the placementof such force being that the National Guard and Reserve forces are now overseas, Is the United States now unable to defend itself from invasion without using catastrophic means?

Scenario
... a Freighter that appears to be loaded with containers that are actually housing a large invasion force docks in Los Angeles Harbor.

Scenario
... Multiple civilian aircraft that transport heavily armed soldiers (Red Dawn).

Scenario
... Foreign Special Forces operatives infiltrate the United States coastline through submarines.

I've been through the 2nd amendment enough this month to know that whatever contingency you come up with, there won't be a problem.

Originally posted by intrepid
I've been through the 2nd amendment enough this month to know that whatever contingency you come up with, there won't be a problem.

This map may help:
www.globalsecurity.org...

ANd we do have plenty of troops and NG unit to handle CONUS defence. Plus the Mounties would pitch in too eh Intrepid?

Originally posted by FredT
Plus the Mounties would pitch in too eh Intrepid?

Only if they're given new hockey sticks to fight with.

Seriously, JTF, that was on that map, does that refer to our Joint Task Force 2? Basically our special forces.

It would give new meaning to the word insurgent .Theres about 300million guns floating around the US and over 100million (legal) gun owners. *not exact ATF numbers

But heck I guess anything could happen though I doubt someone would try that.

Originally posted by Chuck Stevenson
Scenario
... a Freighter that appears to be loaded with containers that are actually housing a large invasion force docks in Los Angeles Harbor.

Are you kidding? The guns alone in South Central would wipe out 10 freighters worth of any invaders - after they stole the hubcaps and any bling bling from the tanks first, of course.

Scenario
... Multiple civilian aircraft that transport heavily armed soldiers (Red Dawn).

I think only China or Russia could pull this off - Russia is too broke, and China is too concentrated on generating larger revenues and trade with the western world so they can support their modernization drive.

Scenario
... Foreign Special Forces operatives infiltrate the United States coastline through submarines.

Only nation with enough subs to even get 7,500 troops to the continent would be Russia. And they're too broke and have too many local problems to worry about invading the US.

The only real enemies the US has are small nations that fund terrorist organizations. The US spends billions on weapon systems and troops to combat multiple small enemies that spend only millions.

However, there are a few sources who feel the same way you appear to. Such as PBS Newshour and the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) said last year in November that the active Army would be unable to sustain an occupation force of the present size beyond about March 2004 if it chose not to keep individual units deployed to Iraq for longer than one year without relief (an assumption consistent with DoD's current planning). And here's the Defence Monitor's Vital Statistics: the US Military for 2003, an article that is quite informative.

All I am going to say is this. The 2nd amendment is here for a reason. If you think Iraq is bad for the US, imagine having far less troops that aren't as well equiped without as good of airsupport, then put them in a city. The Bloods and Crips just made a truce, and they are itching for some action

I won't even put these invaders in the country where everyone has good rifles and can actually shoot straight - that just wouldn't be fair

Lets not forget lifting of the ban on Assault weapons. Like it matters. Americans would never let something like that happen.

Sure seems like it sometimes (like on the U.S.-Mexico border...)

If we lived in another time, I'd be at the front of the line demanding that all military personnel and hardware around the world come back to the 50 States & D.C. But, we live in an age of intercontinental missiles, terrorism, and nuclear weapons, so defending your country is no longer as simple as posting troops at the border anymore.

A ground invasion would NEVER work in the United States...we have oddles of active and retire military personal...beside for most major cities having a HUGE police dept (NYPD if compared to an army is somewhere between the 5th-8th largest STANDING army in the world)...we'd be fine...

The important thing to really ask yourself is, why would anyone want to invade the USA?

No one would, there would be no gain for the invaders.

It would just end up like it is in Iraq even if they managed, there are enough gun weilding rednecks in the USA to stop anyone controlling the country.

But remember, there is absolutley nothing in the USA that another country would want.

are you kidding me? hordes of computers, luxery autos, plasma screens. weve got all kinds of crap people would want to get their hands on. that is why we have such an astronomical defense budget, to protect all our fancy stuff it would take one helluva army to even make a dent on our boarders. we would bomb them to hell before they got within 100 miles.

Originally posted by sturod84
are you kidding me? hordes of computers, luxery autos, plasma screens. weve got all kinds of crap people would want to get their hands on. that is why we have such an astronomical defense budget, to protect all our fancy stuff

it would take one helluva army to even make a dent on our boarders. we would bomb them to hell before they got within 100 miles.

Are you kidding me?

Invaders want plasma screens and cars? Rofl.

Now give a real reason please. What gain is there in occupying the USA? None.

People of the US, have the goverments "BACK" Someone could try to invade, they would have to kill 80% of the population, to be able to take the country, we americans will fight to the death for this country.

Originally posted by American Mad ManThe Bloods and Crips just made a truce, and they are itching for some action

18th Street Gang, ever heard of it?

Now for some reality.
It is estimated that as many as 5,000 undocumented foreign nationals cross our borders every day.

Response time: The time it takes for a threat to be recognized and for proper forces to be mobilised. example: The L.A.P.D. Bomb Squads average response time from call to arrival is almost two hours.

Free-Fire zone: This is what the US would become if every person with a grudge used an 'invasion' excuse to settle their arguments, notably in rural areas, gang territories and red-neck dominated states.

A credible invasion could be mounted in steps.
Infantry crossing the undefended borders disguised as civilians. Mercenary fighters would be included in this group.
Infantry using civilian aircraft to land at major airports. Mortars and other weapons would be stowed as cargo. Up to 5 tons per container, 12 containers on a B747.

Transport of aircraft and heavy equipment via ship. The US ports have no idea what is on a ship unitl it docks. Coast Guard inspections at sea only check I.D. and conduct drug inspections.

The gangs would be so happy to get together with the police to thwart an invasion ... not! They would be shooting the police and anyone else they could and laughing all the time while they smoke crack.

Most gun owning civilians would expect the Government to handle the situation, for those that actually fight combat fear and stress would reduce their ability to fire acurately (as they do at the range) to a minimum.

Originally posted by intrepid
Seriously, JTF, that was on that map, does that refer to our Joint Task Force 2? Basically our special forces.

I think the US have a unit called JTF as well, only without the 2. I'm not too sure but it could be a CIA based unit. Others here may know.

EDIT: This could be it JTF-6

[edit on 16-9-2004 by cargo]

if i was an invader i would be looking for plasma screens


"Most gun owning civilians would expect the Government to handle the situation, for those that actually fight combat fear and stress would reduce their ability to fire acurately (as they do at the range) to a minimum."

i think in the comfort of my home i will be quite an able shot. sitting in my lazy boy with the window open, those jittery handed crack heads got nothin on me.


[edit on 16-9-2004 by sturod84]

Originally posted by Chuck Stevenson
The gangs would be so happy to get together with the police to thwart an invasion ... not! They would be shooting the police and anyone else they could and laughing all the time while they smoke crack.

Most gun owning civilians would expect the Government to handle the situation, for those that actually fight combat fear and stress would reduce their ability to fire acurately (as they do at the range) to a minimum.

This is exactly what I thought to myself some time back when imagining such a scenario. You are living in fantasy land if you think that the whole country would suddenly bond together and join forces. We are talking 300 million people here...the gangs would have a field day. LA Riots on steroids.

And you are also probably pretty accurate about the gun owning civilians. You generally hear the statement "300 million pissed off Americans with guns" when people talk of repelling an invasion. I doubt every person in America has a gun, particularly little kids. More so, I doubt the majority have arms that would be adequate against a militarily outfitted enemy.

6 of Americas 10 active Army divisions are in the contiguous United States. The large majority of America's troops are in.........get this.........AMERICA.

[edit on 9/16/2004 by verfed]

Originally posted by verfed
6 of Americas 10 active Army divisions are in the contiguous United States. The large majority of America's troops are in.........get this.........AMERICA.

[edit on 9/16/2004 by verfed]

How fast could they deploy to Long Beach Harbor and Airport?