If regiments were dispersed over the face of the globe—here a battalion and there a wing—what additional strength would they afford in the event of Some Grave European Crisis?

What would be the position of this country in the event of Some European Crisis when we were called upon to fight for our national prestige as a great Power and for our very existence as a nation?

I think the first inference would be that we must have been going through Some Serious European Crisis, and were threatened with some powerful combination of foreign nations.

That is understandable if we are to continue to punch our weight, hold on to our seat on the Security Council, back NATO in the strongest of terms, and now it seems, be ready to provide a major contribution to Some European Crisis management and rapid reaction formation.