I agree with all you said except the number of military. When I came in in 1976 we were at 3 million active and when I left in 1998 we were at 1.4 million. Where did you come up with the 12 million?
Thank you for the correction. That will learn me to use a half remembered hearsay number from 20 years ago. 12 Million is obviously too high where 3 million sounds about right. Seems about right from what I can find on Google. That will learn me not to research my facts before posting! I usually know better then that!