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Truth in Recruiting: Questions
By Michael Orange
[Printer-Friendly Version] [Your search terms have been highlighted. To remove highlighting, click here.] This information is adapted from the leaflet I use when speaking to students. This is updated as of 1/11/2012.
General questions:
Jot your answers and I'll provide the answers as I proceed with my presentation.
- What is the length of military obligation when enlisting: 2, 4, or 8 years?
- What percentage of veterans made use of the skills they learned in the military on their civilian jobs?
- How many people died during the Vietnam War?
- Of the total deaths in modern wars, what percentage are civilian deaths?
- How many times has the US intervened militarily in a foreign country? How many times since the end of World War II (1945)?
- How many military bases does the US maintain outside of the US?
- The US accounts for what percentage of the world's total defense spending?
- What percentage of the annual federal budget goes to support the country's military operations?
- What percentage of combat soldiers develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
- What percentage of women in the military reported sexual abuse?
Answers to Questions are on the back but please don't peek just yet.
Resources:
Answers to Questions:
- Length of military service obligation: 8 years, typically with a combination of active duty, active reserve duty and inactive reserve duty.
- Transferability of military skills to civilian careers: 12% of male veterans and 6% of female veterans made use of the skills they learned in the military on their civilian jobs.
- Vietnam war deaths: 6 million in Southeast Asia. 60,209 US soldiers dead or missing. 305,000 US soldiers wounded. 4.7 million civilian deaths.
- Civilian deaths as a percent of total deaths:
- WWI: 15%
- WWII: 65%
- Korea: 70%
- Vietnam: 85%
- Iraq: 93% Between 800,000 and 1.2 million civilian deaths. 4,384 US soldiers dead or missing. 31,716 US soldiers wounded.
- US military interventions in foreign countries: 147 total: 44 since the end of World War II.
- US military bases on foreign soil: 737.
- US military spending as a percent of the world's total spending: 45%.
- Military budget: More than 50% of the annual federal budget goes to support the country's military operations. Since the "Black Budget" for the military is secret information, the actual percentage is higher but not public.
- PTSD and suicides: About 30% of veterans of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan conflicts develop long-term debilitating PTSD. Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts between the ages of 20-24 are between 2 and 4 times as likely to commit suicide as their civilian peers.
- Sexual abuse of women in the military: 30% of women in the military reported being victims of rape or attempted rape and 75% reported being sexually harassed.
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