>some major chunk of the population There's about 1.3 million active service members. There are more than 200 million Americans of military age. I wouldn't c

>some major chunk of the population There's about 1.3 million active service members. There are more than 200 million Americans of military age. I wouldn't call that a major chunk. Even if you look at the number of people who've served for any length of time at all, the number is very low. It's not a viable option for a significant portion of the population, because personel numbers are capped.