Keeping a service member overseas costs taxpayers tens of thousands more per year

Evidence

When it comes to personnel, the Air Force’s cost per person on an overseas base is almost 40,000 per year more, on average, than on a domestic base. The Navy's annual cost per person in Europe is almost 30,000 more than domestically, while in Japan, the Army pays on average nearly 25,000 more per person every year than at home. Even in the least expensive case, that of the Marines in Japan, it costs 10,000 to 15,000 more per year for every marine stationed there compared to locations in the continental United States. For eleven thousand marines, that adds up to an extra 110 million to $165 million that taxpayers are spending every year to keep marine forces in Japan rather than in America. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 599

Categorization

• SHARE: A concrete per-person cost figure useful to anyone writing on defense budgets.