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