Quote:
Originally Posted by Adm.Lees
I remember, as a young teenager (13? 14?) finding my father's Army Officer's Guide (hardback book, ca 1963). One of its chapters was a listing of posts, stateside and overseas, which had some divisional assignments. I took notes of that part, of course, since I'd only dealt with OBs in WW2 before that. In that pre-Internet era, that was big.
Obviously, nothing dealt with Vietnam at that date, and there was a lot on post etiquette and things. A peek into a different world.
Re: Vietnam-- Stanton's "Death of an American Army" was a very good read, too.
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Here are how the numbers of active duty military personnel have fluctuated over the past 60 years.1
The numbers for all services spiked in 1968-69 as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War reached its peak. All dropped dramatically as that war drew down. But even the peak of the Vietnam War pales in comparison to World War II. In 1945, there were over 12 million active duty military personnel.
The Army, Navy, and Air Force had significant cuts in the numbers of personnel with the end of the Cold War, while the Marine Corps numbers have stayed relatively flat.