Can the US be invaded?

US+Destroyer+coming+back+to+the+west+coast+after+a+long+trip.+Taken+from+Military.com.

US Destroyer coming back to the west coast after a long trip. Taken from Military.com.

Josiah Cowan, Journalist

   The United States military is one of the greatest in the world, with one of the biggest arsenals ever created and can take on most foreign powers. 

   The US Navy, is the strongest by far, even stronger than most countries combined, the Army has the most advanced drones and weaponry, the Marines have hardened soldiers, able to keep their heads cool in some of the most dangerous situations, and the Air Force, some amazing planes, jets, rockets, all prepared to defend the US at a moments notice. 

   We have all this power along with thousands of National Guard soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Reserved Units. That being said, could the United States be invaded, by either a full scale military attack, or by a less straight-forward tactic? 

   Many countries such as China and Russia envy the US and hate the way our country works. Some of the world’s superpowers also dislike us, and would love nothing more than to just occupy us and take control, and these countries have massive military forces as well. 

   The US has many points of entry, by either land, sea, or air. Luckily, we have great defenses for all of these with radar, border guards, and SOSUS (which is a Sound Surveillance System, used for detecting boats and even submarines).

   If a large country was able to successfully invade the US, they would gain control of all of these systems. The US military wouldn’t destroy them before foreign invaders got a chance to obtain it. With these weapons and defenses, it would be extremely hard for our allies to help us at all.

     However, the US has a trick up it sleeve, its citizens. The citizens would definitely just sit around and do nothing with an attack on their homeland happening. The population of the United States has an astounding 393 million firearms, about 46 percent of guns in the world, so the people are very well armed. 

   Any invasion would have an extremely hard time making any progress with the amount of resistance, especially in states like Colorado where not only automatic weapons are legal and sold, but has a large state militia. An armed population is maybe one of the best things in the event of an attack on the US, because it would be the quickest response to a military. 

   Even better than an armed populace is the United States’ nuclear arsenal. The B83 is the largest nuclear weapon in the US arsenal, with huge and devastating power, many times more powerful than the bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The US has around 31,000 nuclear weapons, making it one of the top two nuclear powers, right next to Russia. An all-out military invasion is very unlikely, because of the nuclear weapons.

   For this reason, a kind of “secret” invasion where people would come into the country, stay, then arm themselves and launch an attack, would work much better as military strategy wouldn’t let the country launch nuclear weapons upon its own people, as the effects of not only the explosion, but the fallout which lasts for hundreds of years would be devastating for hundreds of miles.

   I don’t think any war or invasion will ever hit the US mainland, for now. If Canada or Mexico went to war, then it may make contact with the US. A war with both of these nations will most likely never happen as the US, Mexico, and Canada are in good relations, and Mexico’s military pales in comparison to the US’s own. 

   Also, since the United States has a massive nuclear arsenal, the chances of war with another country is very, very low. The US only really has two other countries that could compete with it in terms of military might, China and Russia. Even with these two superpowers being so close in might, the US, Russia, and China try to keep good relations, so hopefully any major conflict is far in the future.