How special are our military men and women??

After writing a recent piece on a special student I had in the police academy and discussing the military on a local radio talk radio station I thought of a question that I wanted to answer for myself and when I found the answer I was amazed and thought I would share the results with everyone.

The question I thought of was “Just how special are the people in or military?” and by that I mean how many people out of all the people in the U.S.A. serve and to go further have served? What I found may give you some pause.

From the U.S. Census Bureau I found that as of January 1st, 2006 there will be an estimated 297,821,175 people in the United States. We have almost broken the 300 million mark. So then I found out that there are 24.5 million veterans in the U.S. Myself being one of those. That’s 8.2 percent of the population that has served in the military. That was a sobering figure. Less than 10 percent. That few to make so many safe and secure from all the things our military does protect this country from. Then I figured what about active duty military?

Currently there are about 1,427,000 active duty military soldiers. But there are about 109,305,756 people that are fit for military duty (not disqualified because of medical or other reasons, age included). That means that those serving our great country are 1.3 % of the total that could. That means that there are less than one and a half percent of the population that are willing to serve in our military and protect if needed our way of life. That makes them even more special than I thought of them before. A small group when you think of it, who are willing to sacrifice everything, and I mean everything, to protect everything that we all hold so dear.

This was a sobering research article for me. When I realized how many people complain about many things that our country is doing. The war in Iraq, the War on Terrorism (same thing I know) and many other things. Who are they to complain if they are not one of the 1.3%? You want to complain or change the world? Join the 1.3% of special people that were actually strong enough to put their body and soul in the line of fire so that so many can sit back and say things about them. What makes that 1.3% even more special? The vast majority volunteered to do what they are doing. That makes them the top 1.3% in my book. SO before you go and bash or bad mouth the Top 1.3%, maybe think about joining up yourself and seeing what it is to be in the top 1.3% of Americans.

Sources: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/006222.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_United_States