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There are about 2mm active and reserve military members and about 400mm Americans on the whole, so there are, at any time, 0.5% Americans in the military. Assum
by battery_cowboy 6y ago
There are about 2mm active and reserve military members and about 400mm Americans on the whole, so there are, at any time, 0.5% Americans in the military. Assuming the average enlistment is 1 term or 4 years, and people have about 80 year lifespans, then you get ~20 (80/4) "generations" of enlistments over a person's lifespan. 20 * 0.5% is 10%, so about what you would expect for "living veterans" if you had a constant cycle of veterans through the system. That's serious back of the napkin math (lots of assumptions!), so it might be incorrect, but I think it shows that 10% isn't too far from what you might expect, right?
- philwelch 6y agoPlus the size of the military has been even higher within living memory.
- tgflynn 6y agoPossibly, though I would think that many who serve do more than 1 enlistment. It's just that from my own personal experiences I've encountered few veterans in my life (except for older generation family members who served in WWII), that's why intuitively I find the number a bit surprising.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> It's just that from my own personal experiences I've encountered few veterans in my life Lots of veterans don't advertise the fact that they are.