Sound Politics: Let's Help Dave Ross

June 26, 2008

Let's Help Dave Ross

During his discussion of the Supreme Court Heller decision, talk show host Dave Ross said that the United States has the "largest standing army" in the world. That's such an revealing mistake that I thought we should help Ross correct it. And I am sure he will be grateful for our help.

So, for the benefit of Ross (and those who might listen to him), which nation does have the largest standing army in the world? Bonus questions: Which other nations have larger standing armies than the United States? How far wrong was Ross? (There are several ways to answer that. I'll accept any sensible comparison.)

Super bonus question: What office did Ross run for in 2004? (If you answered the other questions correctly, you'll find this one especially difficult, because the answer will seem so implausible.)

Naturally, you will want to give your references.

(So as not offend the Marines, I will leave it up to you whether you count them as part of our "standing army", though I assume that most of our enemies do. Obviously, you wouldn't count the Navy and the Air Force.)

Posted by Jim Miller at June 26, 2008 10:15 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Without doing any research at all I could tell Dave that China has a larger standing army than the US. I wouldn't be surprised if N. Korea, India and possibly Pakistan fell into that mix as well. And Dave got his butt whooped by the better Dave (Reichert) in the 2004 8th Congressional election.

Posted by: WFP on June 26, 2008 10:31 AM

2. Oh, oh, oh!!! I know, I know! *raises hand*

Although the U.S. armed forces do have the most force multipliers. For the time being at least...

Posted by: Don Ward on June 26, 2008 10:33 AM

3. Looks like China and the EU are the only ones larger, assuming you want to count the EU as one armed force.

That's using armed forces numbers, not army numbers. I don't really care enough to google longer.

Posted by: Andrew Brown on June 26, 2008 10:33 AM

4. Oh, I fail at cutting and pasting, it would seem:

The source for what I said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_size_of_armed_forces

I don't know if it's accurate. I thought Iran and N. Korea were larger as well, but perhaps they starved.

Posted by: Andrew Brown on June 26, 2008 10:37 AM

5. Total Troops List (Wikipedia)

You can sort by different columns by clicking the column headers. Note the rightmost column. The US is _53rd_ in troops-per-civilian. The 'per capita' criteria that we're always slammed on for spending etc.

Posted by: Al on June 26, 2008 10:42 AM

6. Also, sort on 'total' and boggle.

Posted by: Al on June 26, 2008 10:45 AM

7. I would say it's the ants, although I guess they may have to be classed as the crawling army.

Posted by: NativeSon on June 26, 2008 10:45 AM

8. Just a reminder: The question is not about the sizes of the total armed forces, but the sizes of the "standing armies" (with or without the Marines). Navies and air forces don't count.

Posted by: Jim Miller on June 26, 2008 10:47 AM

9. North Korea.

Posted by: pbj on June 26, 2008 11:01 AM

10. The anssswer is Cobra of courssse...

The ruthless, terrorist organization determined to rule the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_a6mHGDDHs

COBRA!!!

Posted by: Don Ward on June 26, 2008 11:08 AM

11. Well, Wikipedia gives stats of 519998 Army, 186209 Marines from this DoD report

I get 1.6 million for China, 1 million for North Korea, 770,000 for Iran (with a 'standing paramilitary' of 12 million!) 1.3 million India, 619,000 Pakistan, all from "wiki army countryname"

Note that "Standing Army" is often used synonymously for "people currently considered full-time peace-time military". It isn't usually meant to be standing Army so much as standing military. And you wouldn't normally include all the reserves called up for duty in Iraq, or in support of Iraq either.

Posted by: Al on June 26, 2008 11:33 AM

12. Remember when the terrorists took over the school in Beslan Russia? I watched a good deal of the coverage and lost count of the number of parents showing up packing AKs. Does anyone doubt that wouldn't be the same anywhere in Russia?
But...would we see that here? I doubt it.
Seems to me that Mr Ross has a penchant for hyperbole. Armed citizens do not constitute a standing army.

Posted by: Diogenes on June 26, 2008 02:12 PM