July 15, 2006:
With an army of only some 100,000 troops, Great Britain has 21,900 deployed overseas (8,500 in Northern Ireland, 7,200 in Iraq, 5,000 in Afghanistan, 900 in the Balkans and 300 working for the UN in several locations). That's second only to the United States, in proportion of troops overseas. In terms of troops available (the British army has a much smaller reserve force), they have more of their troops out of the country. OK, Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain, but is "overseas" and is considered a peacekeeping mission. Britain is also sending another 900 troops to Afghanistan.