Most of what you do in the Navy Reserve is considered training. The basic Navy Reserve commitment involves training a minimum of one weekend a month (referred to as drilling) and two weeks a year (referred to as Annual Training) â or the equivalent of that.
The current 9,800 troops in Afghanistan is just a fraction of the U.S. forces stationed around the world. The graphic above shows other countries where the U.S. has a significant military presence. Itâs difficult to give a full picture of the number of troops serving overseas.
According to the latest death tally, 575 U.S. troops have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the 20 months since Barack Obama took office in January last year. That is the same number of fatalities the U.S. military suffered under Mr Bush, who launched the Afghan invasion nine years ago in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. With his White House honeymoon well and truly over, Mr Obama is no longer able to blame his countryâs travails on the previous administration.