The U.S. Army remains the largest branch of the American military, with 449,344 active duty personnel in 2023. While the Army leads in numbers, the newly established Space Force had just 8,879 active duty members, highlighting the evolving nature of modern warfare and the increasing importance of space-based capabilities. Confidence in military remains high Despite fluctuations in force size, public trust in the U.S. military remains strong. In 2024, 61 percent of Americans expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the armed forces, a slight increase from the previous year. While a slightly higher share of Republicans have shown more confidence in the military, trust in the institution remains high across party lines. Global commitments The United States continues to invest heavily in its military capabilities, with defense spending reaching 916.02 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This substantial budget supports not only domestic defense needs but also enables the U.S. to respond to global crises, as evidenced by the over 40 billion euros in military aid provided to Ukraine following Russia's invasion. The high level of spending, which translates to about 2,220 U.S. dollars per capita.

This graph shows the number of active duty U.S. Marine Corps personnel from 1995 to 2010. In 2010, there were 202,612 active duty U.S. Marine Corps members, as compared to 172,955 in 2000.

The graph illustrates the number of personnel in each branch of the U.S. Military for the year 2025. The x-axis lists the military branches: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The y-axis represents the number of personnel, ranging from 41,477 to 449,265. Among the branches, the Army has the highest number of personnel with 449,265, followed by the Navy with 333,794 and the Air Force with 317,675. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard have 168,628 and 41,477 personnel, respectively. The data is displayed in a bar graph format, effectively highlighting the distribution of military personnel across the different branches.

In 2023, around 21.3 percent of active duty officers in the United States Navy were women. Additionally, approximately 19.4 percent of officers in the Space Force were women.

At the end of the fiscal year of 2024, it is estimated that there will be ** Generals serving the United States Army, and a total of ******* enlisted personnel. Military personnel The military departments in the United States are: the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Coast Guards. The President of the United States is the military’s overall head and forms the military policy with the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. military is one of the largest militaries in term of number of personnel. The largest branch of the United States Armed Forces is the United States Army. The United States Army is responsible for land-based military operations. The active duty U.S. Army personnel number has decreased from 2010 to 2021. In 2010, there were ******* active duty U.S. Army members, as compared to ******* in 2021. The number of active duty U.S. Navy personnel has decreased slowly over the past 20 years. In 2021, there were ******* active duty Navy members in the United States Navy. The United States Navy personnel are enlisted sailors, commissioned officers, and midshipmen. Sailors have to take part in Personnel Qualification Standards, to prove that they have mastered skills. The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States. The active duty U.S. Air Force personnel numbers also decreased between 1995 and 2015, although has started to increase slightly since 2015. The number decreased again in 2021, when the Air Force had ******* personnel.

SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES VETERAN STATUS - DP02 Universe - Civilian population 18 Year and over Survey-Program - American Community Survey 5-year estimates Years - 2020, 2021, 2022 Veteran status is used to identify people with active duty military service and service in the military Reserves and the National Guard. Veterans are men and women who have served (even for a short time), but are not currently serving, on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or the Coast Guard, or who served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. People who served in the National Guard or Reserves are classified as veterans only if they were ever called or ordered to active duty, not counting the 4-6 months for initial training or yearly summer camps.

In 2023, the vast majority of active duty U.S. Armed Forces personnel did not have a college degree. In that year, there were 822,729 United States Armed Forces personnel who had at least earned a high school diploma but did not have a Bachelor's degree.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of encroachment pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and changes in climate and sea level. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and also optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the second 5 years of the program (DCERP2) are presented in the DCERP2 Final Report. There were four overarching objectives of DCERP2. The first objective was to understand the effects of climate change impacts, including warming temperatures, variability in the hydrological cycle, storm events, and sea level rise on the coastal ecosystems at MCBCL from observations and measurements made over the 10-year program. The second objective was to understand the carbon cycle of the coastal and terrestrial ecosystems at MCBCL through a highly integrated sampling program. The third objective was to develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate current and projected future ecosystem state changes and translate scientific findings into actionable information for installation managers. The last objective was to recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. The Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) Monitoring and Research Data Information System (MARDIS) database is the long-term repository for all DCERP monitoring and research data. Metadata provide supporting information about monitoring and research data that include, but are not limited to, a description of the location where the data were collected, the field and laboratory methods used to collect and analyze the data, and the spatial extent and temporal frequency of the data collected. In MARDIS, metadata fields have been combined with the actual sampling data fields; therefore, DCERP metadata are not a separate element, table, or document, but instead they are an integral component of each data record.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of encroachment pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and changes in climate and sea level. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and also optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the second 5 years of the program (DCERP2) are presented in the DCERP2 Final Report. There were four overarching objectives of DCERP2. The first objective was to understand the effects of climate change impacts, including warming temperatures, variability in the hydrological cycle, storm events, and sea level rise on the coastal ecosystems at MCBCL from observations and measurements made over the 10-year program. The second objective was to understand the carbon cycle of the coastal and terrestrial ecosystems at MCBCL through a highly integrated sampling program. The third objective was to develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate current and projected future ecosystem state changes and translate scientific findings into actionable information for installation managers. The last objective was to recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. GIS was used to create point layers from the coordinates representing samples taken along the mainstem and shallow portions of the New River Estuary. The point layers were transformed into linear features and datasets were created for each parameter (salinity, chlorophyll, and turbidity). The line representing each sample collection point was symbolized based on the value of each parameter in the Water Quality Explorer for the dawn samples only. The date and time collected for each sample was used to visualize the sample collection at dawn in the map viewer. Each GIS layer was time enabled with a daily time step interval so that changes in concentrations of salinity, chlorophyll, and turbidity could be observed on a daily basis. In the geodatabase, the layers used for the dawn samples end with “_AM”. The ones without AM at the end include all samples (AM and PM); note that the PM samples are not visualized in the Water Quality Explorer.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. Green Loss time series 'Zipcode' Input files are 5 pixel minimum area, MCBCL only data from the individual green loss change periods. These were converted from categories of intensity 2,3,4 to simple binary 'change' and 'no-change'. These files were then converted to the following: 84-90 loss: 0,1 84-98 loss: 0,10 84-05 loss: 0,100 84-07 loss: 0,1000 84-09 loss: 0,10000 Files then simply added together to create change time series. This results in a range of possible values from 11111 (loss detected during each time period) to 00001 (change in the 1984-1990 period, but not observed as green loss by 1998, 05,07 or 09 - probably a temporary impact that 'revegetated').

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. Shoreline characterization of the Intracoastal waterway within the foundries of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Data was collected by ground truth methods and included boat operations. The shoreline of the ICW was characterized by boat in April and June 2010 using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) equipment and ArcGIS software. The previously digitized 2009 shoreline was edited within ArcGIS, using GPS equipment to obtain the position of the boat relative to the shoreline. Four fields were created for the shoreline shapefile, including: shoreline type, vegetation/species, modification type and relief. A unique identifying code was created by concatenating the field values of the four fields. in January 2013 the field Veg_2 was created for the output of SLtype and Vegtype codeing.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This grid file was created from data collected using a Riegl 3-D laser scanner. Millions of x, y, and z points from Onslow Beach were processed using the Terrasolid software package to define a bare-earth model. The beach was broken into a series of zones, each zone was processed separately, and this grid covers all of the zones. Data were collected during the same week and around the low tide (two hours before and after low tide).

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This data package contains Loss of Green Vegetation between 1984 and 1998 from Landsat TM5 images. Results are based on the difference in the Tassle Cap greenness band recorded in 1984 and the greenness recorded in 1998. This Intensity of green loss was then developed into a five category green loss classification using the mean and standard deviation of the green loss difference data set, standardized to the 1984-2007 time period: 0. No green loss, green gain, or background 1. No significant change; values > 0 to =< 0.0035 (mean - SD) 2. Light green loss, reduced forest, impacted veg, etc; values > 0.0035 to =< 0.04556 (mean) 3. Moderate green loss; values > 0.04556 to =< 0.0876 (mean + SD) 4. Heavy green loss; values > 0.0876 to max. Classes 2,3, and 4 are retained as significant green loss locations. Polygon patches are labeled with the intensity value in the attribute 'GRIDCODE'. Greenness loss in this area is a good indicator of human impact and development.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This data package contains loss of Green Vegetation data between 1984 and 2009 from Landsat TM5 images. Results are based on the difference in the Tassle Cap greenness band recorded in 1984 to the greenness recorded in 2009. This Intensity of green loss was then developed into a five category green loss classification using the mean and standard deviation of the green loss difference data set, standardized to the 1984-2007 time period: 0. No green loss, green gain, or background 1. No significant change; values > 0 to =< 0.0035 (mean - SD) 2. Light green loss, reduced forest, impacted veg, etc; values > 0.0035 to =< 0.04556 (mean) 3. Moderate green loss; values > 0.04556 to =< 0.0876 (mean + SD) 4. Heavy green loss; values > 0.0876 to max. Classes 2,3, and 4 are retained as significant green loss locations. Polygon patches are labeled with the intensity value in the attribute 'GRIDCODE'. Greenness loss in this area is a good indicator of human impact and development.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This data package measures Loss of Green Vegetation between 1984 and 2005 from Landsat TM5 images. Results are based on the difference in the Tassle Cap greenness band recorded in 1984 and the greenness recorded in 2005. This Intensity of green loss was then developed into a five category green loss classification using the mean and standard deviation of the green loss difference data set, standardized to the 1984-2007 time period: 0. No green loss, green gain, or background 1. No significant change; values > 0 to =< 0.0035 (mean - SD) 2. Light green loss, reduced forest, impacted veg, etc; values > 0.0035 to =< 0.04556 (mean) 3. Moderate green loss; values > 0.04556 to =< 0.0876 (mean + SD) 4. Heavy green loss; values > 0.0876 to max. Classes 2, 3, and 4 are retained as significant green loss locations. Polygon patches are labeled with the intensity value in the attribute 'GRIDCODE'. Greenness loss in this area is a good indicator of human impact and development.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. Sidescan data are from the shallow (-2 to -11.5m, NAVD88) nearshore region of Onslow Beach. Data were collected in 2007 using a high-resolution (234 kHz) Sea Swath Plus Interferometric swath bathymetric profiler with co-registered side-scan sonar. Line spacing ranged from 25-75m to allow for nearly complete coverage of the seafloor, minimizing data holidays. The position of each data point was related to NAD83 using RTK-GPS. Vessel heave, pitch, and roll were corrected in real-time using an IXSEA Octans motion sensor. Amplitude data were extracted as backscatter values from the bathymetric files and processed using Chesapeake Technology SonarWiz MAP5. Geotif images were generated using SonarWiz MAP5. In order to keep the file size manageable, two geotiff images were created for the data.

The database on offshore military areas in the EU contains polygons and/or points representing offshore military areas in the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Each polygon/point has the following attributes (where available): Country, Country_2, Country_3, Status (Active, Deactivated, Unknown), Type_1 (Firing Area, Air Force Exercise, Surface Exercise, Underwater Exercise, Mine Hunting Exercise, National Defence Area), Type_2, Type_3, Resource, Distance to coast (metres) and Area (square kilometres).

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of encroachment pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and changes in climate and sea level. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and also optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the second 5 years of the program (DCERP2) are presented in the DCERP2 Final Report. There were four overarching objectives of DCERP2. The first objective was to understand the effects of climate change impacts, including warming temperatures, variability in the hydrological cycle, storm events, and sea level rise on the coastal ecosystems at MCBCL from observations and measurements made over the 10-year program. The second objective was to understand the carbon cycle of the coastal and terrestrial ecosystems at MCBCL through a highly integrated sampling program. The third objective was to develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate current and projected future ecosystem state changes and translate scientific findings into actionable information for installation managers. The last objective was to recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This data package contains burn and wildfire history and time enabled service data.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of encroachment pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and changes in climate and sea level. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and also optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the second 5 years of the program (DCERP2) are presented in the DCERP2 Final Report. There were four overarching objectives of DCERP2. The first objective was to understand the effects of climate change impacts, including warming temperatures, variability in the hydrological cycle, storm events, and sea level rise on the coastal ecosystems at MCBCL from observations and measurements made over the 10-year program. The second objective was to understand the carbon cycle of the coastal and terrestrial ecosystems at MCBCL through a highly integrated sampling program. The third objective was to develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate current and projected future ecosystem state changes and translate scientific findings into actionable information for installation managers. The last objective was to recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. Measurements were made of sediment contained in the surface microlayer of water in the creek channel and marsh at Freeman Creek. The measurements were made to compare with the suspended sediment concentrations measured at Freeman Creek.

Critical military training and testing on lands along the nation’s coastal and estuarine shorelines are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and increasing requirements for compliance with environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through the development and application of an ecosystem-based management approach on DoD installations. To accomplish this goal, particularly for installations in estuarine/coastal environments, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) as a minimum 10-year effort at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) in North Carolina. The results of the first six years of the program (DCERP1) are presented here. The overarching objectives of DCERP are to: (1) understand the effects of military training activities, infrastructure development, and other coastal military installations; (2) develop models, tools, and indicators to evaluate ecosystem health; and (3) recommend adaptive management strategies to sustain ecosystem natural resources within the context of an active military installation. This grid file was created from data collected using a Riegl 3-D laser scanner. Millions of x, y, and z points from Onslow Beach were processed using the Terrasolid software package to define a bare-earth model. The beach was broken into a series of zones, each zone was processed separately, and this grid covers all of the zones. Data were collected during the same week and around the low tide (two hours before and after low tide).