Ill Communication: How US Soldiers Just Can’t Get Along With Locals. Anywhere.

Some 300,000 American soldiers are currently serving Uncle Sam in nearly 150 countries around the world. And while officially they have to stick to a strict code of ethics, in reality the US servicemen are often the ones making it into the headlines in other countries for being involved in drunken fights, sexual assaults and other crimes.

It looks like a scene from a low-budget thriller: a group of foreigners get into a bar brawl with local policemen in Asia. The incident gets caught on CCTV. The foreigners are (visibly intoxicated) US soldiers, holding beer bottles and smoking cigarettes.

The US military announced in a statement that this incident, which occurred in the spring of 2016, will be taken seriously, and the troops who were involved in the fight will face possible disciplinary sanctions. Philippines military spokesman Capt. Celeste Frank Sayson said that the scuffle will not affect the ongoing US-Phillipine Balikatan (Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder”) annual military exercise.

However, it appears that turning “shoulder-to-shoulder” into “mano a mano” is a kind of a national sport for US troops deployed overseas. It seems that in any country where off-duty US troops are being sent to by Uncle Sam, the locals just don’t appreciate their Kung-Fu.

Just a month after the Philippines incident 13 US soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were arrested in Vicenza, Italy, following a bar fight, which left several people injured.

In some places, like Okinawa, Japan, a number of off-base restrictions were imposed on all US military personnel for one month in May of 2016, including a ban on alcohol consumption in local bars and restaurants, and a curfew after a US sailor and a Marine veteran were charged with crimes.

When you take a closer look at what the US servicemen post on social media, you can’t help but wonder what is the true essence of their overseas mission.

Well, here is a possible video hint from YouTube user Eric Estrada. (Spoiler: It involves swearing, video blogging, makeshift swords and “the Evil Groundskeeper”):

It appears that with only a few military bases being used for real combat, Uncle Sam often leaves his troops bored and looking for "cross-cultural adventures", which, knights cosplay aside, sometimes leads to crimes and misdemeanors.

The US currently has more than 800 military facilities in 80 countries, which is significantly more than the combined total of 30 overseas bases owned by Great Britain, Russia and France.