It's not really an either/or choice. And it's not really defence. The vast majority of American personel medically airlifted from the gulf & afghan conflicts,

It's not really an either/or choice. And it's not really defence. The vast majority of American personel medically airlifted from the gulf & afghan conflicts, made their first stop "out of theater" in Germany. Not because they weren't wanted in the US, but because it was one third of the distance. It's very much a logistics network as much as anything else. Consider the US "head office", bases in Germany, Japan, etc become regional warehouses, and forward operations become local hubs. The one thing the US military really excels at like no other, is force projection. Everyone gets hung up on the "force" part - it's a lot more dramatic, photogenic, holywood, etc - but the "projection" part really can't be overlooked. Armies live and die by their supply lines, and most of the US's bases on friendly territory form the logistics network that are their supply lines.