The number of active-duty military personnel would increase to 1.43 million – up from 1.38 million in 2000 – under provisions of the Obama administration’s proposed defense spending bill for fiscal year 2011, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Total strength still trails the 2.8 million who served in uniform in fiscal year 1987, at the height of the Reagan administration buildup, according to a Sept. 17 CRS report on defense authorization and appropriations. The CRS figure includes 26,000 service members who serve in what the Defense Department considers as temporary expansion, “to fill billets associated with ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” CRS stated. Not included are the roughly 79,000 reservists and National Guard members who serve full time or the reservists who have been called to active duty temporarily in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
