Memorial Day is a time for remembrance and thankfulness for those who have died to establish and preserve our freedoms. It also elicits concern about the dwindling number of American citizens who have affiliation with military service.

It is widely known that fewer than 1 percent of Americans serve on Active Duty. You can see in the charts below (1973–2016), that this is driven by the reduction over time in military end strength. This results in less opportunity for citizens to serve in the military.

Furthermore, the military is comprised of members from a smaller number of states and contains a disproportionate number of members who come from military families. Those concerned posit that an increasingly insular military may lose broader national support.

Options to increase affiliation include raising end strength (in either Active or Reserve Components) and preferring term enlistments over career to create more turnover. Also, if isolation is also a problem, the available positions should go to a more diverse cross-section of the population. This will require the services to spend time and resources recruiting those who have less propensity to serve.

Before making these investments, the Defense Department needs to invest in understanding whether the concern over insularity is valid and then determine the most cost effective way to address this concern.

Sources: Defense Manpower Data Center and U.S. Census

CNAS has posted a critique of the President's 2014 Defense Budget:

The U.S. defense establishment today faces severe credibility challenges. Internationally, American defense budget cuts have shaken confidence in the U.S. military’s ability to achieve the nation’s security goals. The dysfunctional manner in which the U.S. government imposed the cuts has sapped faith in the ability of the American political system to provide steady, long-term support for U.S. security objectives. Domestically, the Department of Defense (DOD) has failed to accomplish its top political goal, averting sequestration, and has struggled to mobilize political support for its preferred strategy, the Defense Strategic Guidance. It is now being led by a defense secretary who suffered through a contentious nomination process and was confirmed by the smallest vote margin in the history of the job.

All of the think tanks are uniting in their displeasure with DoD's handling of its resource allocation under sequestration.

Fewer Americans Affiliated with the Military

CNAS commentary on DoD FY14 Budget →