So what is the correct count as you see? How many bases/military installations/outposts does United States maintain/finance?
There are several hindred, but i would use the following criteria> The installation hosts a military activity such as
A) Combat unit
B) Logistical unit
C) Communications / Intel gathering
What shouldn't count is
1) Embassy staff
2) Treaty compliance monitoring
3) MAAGs providing instruction on the use of US equipment used by another country (Switzerlan is a neutral country, but uses the F-18, US antitank missiles, artillery pieces and for system enhancements or improvements, US military will be present in Switzerland in a non embassy capacity)
Factors influencing the number of installations. Most countries do not have huge military complexes like the US does. Ft. Hood would typically have some 50.000 troops assigned, other major installations, 25,000 (Ft. Bliss, Ft. Bragg. Ft. Campbell, etc.)
In the days of the Cold War, a really big US base in Germany might have 4,000 troops on it, and most of them had units smaller than a brigade, 500 troops or less being common. In the US, those 250,000 troops would be on a dozen bases, in Germany, they were on about 300 installations because each of them was much smaller, located near a city as a rule, and the raw numbers just don't give an accurate picture of what is going on.
