Europe Can Afford Its Own Defense, and American Veterans Cannot Wait

Why are U.S. troops still guarding shopping malls in Stuttgart?

American forces remain in Europe because policymakers built a postwar alliance that treated U.S. troops as permanent fixtures rather than temporary guests, and every administration since has been too timid to correct the mistake. That arrangement outlived the Soviet Union and now serves Europe's comfort more than America's security.

For seventy years the American taxpayer has paid for Europe's security while European parliaments funded shorter workweeks and bigger pensions. That deal made sense when the rubble of World War II still smoldered. It is a scam in 2026. Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are not failed states. They are advanced economies with the technology and manpower to deter Russia without a single American brigade on their soil. The United States currently keeps roughly 100,000 service members in Europe. Every one of them represents a family separated, a base bill footed by you, and a soldier who could be watching the southern border or recovering at home.

And the mission keeps creeping. What began as deterrence against Soviet tanks turned into nation-building in the Balkans, advisory roles in Ukraine, and occasional talk of expanding to the Pacific. None of those jobs require American parents to miss birthdays in Kaiserslautern. The American people were never asked to sign a forever lease on European stability. They were sold a temporary shield. The shield should have come home decades ago.

What do the numbers say about NATO's free ride?

NATO has 32 members, but only 23 of them are projected to meet the 2 percent of GDP defense target in 2025, while the United States carries the largest share of spending, troop commitments, and nuclear deterrence. The imbalance is not a rounding error; it is the central operating model of the Alliance.

The United States will spend about $895 billion on national defense under the fiscal year 2025 NDAA. That is more than the next ten military budgets combined. The Alliance's direct common budget is small, but the real subsidy is the U.S. nuclear umbrella, the U.S. logistics backbone, and the U.S. troops parked along the Vistula River and the Rhine. The Congressional Budget Office has long noted that permanent overseas basing adds billions in maintenance, schooling, housing, and rotation costs that do not show up in a simple treaty invoice.

But the cost is not just money. It is strategic distraction. Every ship, satellite, and general officer focused on Europe is one not focused on the Indo-Pacific, where China has built a navy of roughly 370 ships and is bullying Taiwan and the Philippines. Russia is a regional pest with a shrinking economy and a military that has bled itself white in Ukraine. China is the pacing threat. Europe can handle the pest. America must focus on the dragon.

The defenders of the status quo point to Article 5 as if it were a blood oath. It is a treaty clause. Treaties can be renegotiated when circumstances change. The circumstances changed in 1991. They changed again when Germany made itself dependent on Russian gas while pretending to lead European security. They changed when American veterans were sleeping on sidewalks. Pretending otherwise is not alliance management. It is cowardice dressed up as diplomacy.

Where should Congress redirect the money?

The Department of Veterans Affairs handled a budget of roughly $325 billion in fiscal year 2025, yet the disability claims backlog still hovered near 300,000 cases, which means every dollar pulled from Europe should fund VA care, suicide prevention, and veteran homelessness programs instead. The math is brutal but simple.

The Government Accountability Office has repeatedly flagged delays in VA mental-health appointments and outdated electronic records. Those problems are American problems. Fixing them is a better use of treasure than funding Europe's social programs by proxy. A single Army brigade combat team costs billions to keep forward deployed. That same money could hire hundreds of claims processors, build new VA clinics in rural Texas and Montana, and expand the Veterans Crisis Line so no call goes unanswered.

And the obligation is moral, not just fiscal. The men and women who wore the uniform swore an oath to the Constitution, not to the Estonian welfare state. When a veteran waits six months for a disability rating while an American armored unit polishes tanks in Poland, the country has its priorities upside down. Congress should pass a simple rule: no new overseas basing funds until the VA backlog is cut in half and every veteran has a timely appointment.

What comes after the blank check?

Article 5 of NATO was invoked exactly once, after the September 11 attacks, and America led the response, so the moral debt has been paid in full; the next chapter should be a voluntary partnership built on equal burden sharing rather than American subsidization. The United States should remain a friend to Europe, not its permanent bodyguard.

A serious alliance is a partnership, not a protection racket where one member pays and the others lecture. If Europe wants American steel, Europe should buy American steel with its own defense budgets. If Paris and Berlin want U.S. intelligence, they should fund interoperable systems and share the risk. Friendship does not require subordination.

Bring the troops home. Rebuild the arsenal here. And tell every veteran waiting on a claim that their country finally chose them first. The era of the American patsy is over. The era of the American veteran begins now.