MVC President's Veterans Day Message

Happy Veterans Day!

Veterans Day (Armistice Day) is a federal holiday for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

I decided to do a little research about veterans for Veterans Day. There are about 19 million U.S. veterans. Gulf War-era veterans are the largest share of veterans. The numbers according to the VA are 7.9 million - Gulf War, 5.9 million - Vietnam, 933,000 - Korean and 240,000 - WW II. An additional 22% of all veterans served in peacetime.

7% of all U.S. adults are veterans. This is down from 18% in 1980. Less than 1% of the population serves in the military today.

17% of the current Congress are veterans. This is down from over 75% in 1975. This is disturbing when you consider the possible impact on funding for veteran services. However, the good side is that a recent survey found that 72% of U.S. adults supported increasing funding for veterans’ benefits and services.

These facts are interesting. The number of veterans is decreasing in the general population and in Congress. However, a large majority of the public support services are for veterans. This is good news for both existing veterans and future veterans.

Thank you all for your service to our great country.

 Bob Weithofer,  Pres. Of MVC