Section 9

National Defense and Veterans Affairs

This section presents statistics on national defense and its human and financial costs; military personnel, ships, and aircraft; Selective Service operations; and various federally sponsored programs and benefits for veterans. The principal sources of these data are the annual Selected Manpower Statistics and other reports issued by the Office of the Secretary of Defense; annual reports of the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Office of Civil Defense, and the National Guard Bureau; the Selective Service System; Annual Report of Administrator of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration; and The Budget of the United States Government, Office of Management and Budget. Data on veterans also appear in reports of the Census of Population, conducted by the Bureau of the Census.

Department of Defense.-Until 1947, the Army, Navy, and Air Force operated under independent jurisdiction, answering only to the Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States. In 1947, the National Security Act set up the National Military Establishment, which provided for the coordination of the Army, Navy, and Air Force under a civilian Secretary of Defense. The three services remained separately administered, however, and each retained its Department status. Amendments to the Act in 1949 established the Department of Defense.

Selective Service. The Selective Service System is responsible for the registration, classification, selection, forwarding for examination, and delivery for induction into the Armed Forces of all men required to register under the Military Selective Service Act. The act requires men to register at age 18 and to be liable for military service up to age 26 or, if they have been deferred from service, up to age 35. Selection of young men is based on a random selection of birthdates conducted once each year. Men whose random sequence numbers (birthdates) are drawn by a national lottery during the year in which they become 19 years of age may be inducted at some time during the year in which they become 20 years of age. Men whose random sequence numbers are not reached for induction and who remained available to the end of their year of liability are placed in succeedingly lower draft priorities during the remaining years of their draft obligation. Selective Service is responsible for the issuing of deferments and exemptions as well as the administration of the conscientious objector alternate service work program. Selective Service is also authorized to determine availability of members of the Standby Reserve of the Armed Forces for order to active duty in time of war or national emergency.

Military reserves.-Reserve personnel of the Armed Forces consist of the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Naval Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve. The purpose of these components is to provide trained personnel available for active duty in the Armed Forces in time of war or national emergency and at such other times as required by the national security. Whenever Congress determines that more personnel are needed for the national security than are in the regular ground, sea, and air forces, units of reserve personnel are ordered to active duty and retained as long as needed.

The National Guard has dual Federal-State responsibilities and uses jointly provided equipment, facilities, and budget support. In peacetime, the National Guard is State-administered, under command of the State Governors. The State mission is to provide units organized, trained, and equipped to protect life and property and to preserve peace, order, and public safety. The Federal mission is to provide units capable and ready for mobilization in time of war or national emergency to support the Army and Air Forces. The President is also empowered to mobilize the National Guard and to use such of the Armed Forces as he considers necessary to quell insur

rection in any State against its government, to enforce Federal authority in any State, and to suppress interference with the execution of State and Federal law in a State by insurrection, violence, or conspiracy.

Veterans Administration.-The Veterans Administration administers laws authorizing benefits for eligible former and present members of the Armed Forces, and for the beneficiaries of deceased former members. Veterans benefits available under various acts of Congress include: Compensation for service-connected disability or death; pensions for nonservice-connected disability or death; vocational rehabilitation for service-connected disability; education and training; guaranty or insurance of home, farm, and business loans; U.S. Government and National Service Life Insurance; hospitalization; domiciliary care; nursing home care; out-patient medical and dental care for service-connected disability; prosthetic and other appliances; special housing and automobiles or other conveyances for certain disabled veterans; burial allowances; and educational assistance to wives, widows, sons, and daughters of deceased or totally disabled veterans, servicemen missing in action or prisoners of war.

Estimates of veterans in civil life as published by the Veterans Administration generally cover all persons with war service or service between January 31, 1955, and August 5, 1964, and include those living outside the United States. Similar data from the Bureau of the Census relate to civilian males, 14 years old and over, who live in the United States and who have served in the Armed Forces, whether in war or peacetime.

Historical statistics.-Tabular headnotes provide cross-references, where applicable, to Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957. See preface.

No. 403. FEDERAL BUDGET OUTLAYS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE AND VETERANS BENEFITS AND SERVICES: 1950 To 1973

[In billions of dollars, except percent. For years ending June 30. Includes outlays of Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and other agencies for activities primarily related to national defense and veterans programs. See Historical Statistics, Colonial Times to 1957, series Y 357-358 and Y 360, for related data]

X Not applicable.

1 Gross national product; see 1974 edition of source, pp. 61 and 370, for basis of these calculations.

Source: U.S. Office of Management and Budget, The Budget of the United States Government, and U.S. Dept. of Defense, Office of the Comptroller, The Economics of Defense Spending, A Look at The Realities, July 1972, and unpublished data.

No. 404. BUDGET OUTLAYS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE FUNCTIONS: 1960 TO 1973 [In millions of dollars. For years ending June 30]

* Includes Marine Corps.

X Not applicable. 1 Includes maintenance.

3 Revolving, management, military trust, special foreign currency, allowances, and offsetting receipts.

No. 405. Department oF DEFENSE-FUNDS AVAILABLE AND OUTLAYS: 1960 To 1973

[In millions of dollars, except as indicated. For years ending June 30]

Excludes military assistance funds which were included in Dept. of Defense budget in 1960 but in funds appropriated to the President in later years shown.

Source of tables 404 and 405: U.S. Office of Management and Budget, The Budget of the United States Government. No. 406. DEPARtment of DEFENSE OUTLAYS, BY BRANCH OF SERVICE: 1965 to 1972 [For years ending June 30. Excludes civil functions. Includes military assistance]

Source: U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Office of the Secretary, Combined Statement of Receipts, Expenditures, and Balances of the United States Government, annual.

Represents zero.

X Not applicable.

193 developing countries in Latin America, the Far East (except Japan), South Asia, the Near East, Africa (except South Africa), and Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia); 27 developed countries in North America, Oceania, NATO (except Greece, Portugal, Turkey), Warsaw Pact (except Bulgaria), Europe other than NATO (Austria, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland), Japan, and South Africa. 2 North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 3 Gross national product.

Source: U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures, 1971.

No. 408. ESTIMATES OF TOTAL COST OF AMERICAN WARS, BY RANK
[In millions of dollars, except percent]

720

15

14

1 Based on expenditures of Departments of the Army and Navy to World War I and major national security expenditures thereafter. Usually the figures begin with the year the war began but in all cases they extend one year beyond the end of the actual conflict. See Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957, series Y 351-352 and Y 358.

2 To World War I, estimates are based on Veterans Administration data. For World War I, World War II, and Korean conflict, estimates are those of the 1956 report of the President's Commission on Veterans' Pensions plus 25 percent (the increase in the average value of benefits since the Commission made its report).

3 Source: U.S. Veterans Administration, Annual Report of Administrator of Veterans Affairs.

Estimates based on assumption that war would end by June 30, 1970 (except for original war costs and for veterans benefit costs to 1973).

Estimated Department of Defense expenditure in support of Southeast Asia for fiscal year 1965 to 1972. Medium-level estimate of 200 percent (high, 300; low, 100) based on figures expressing relationship of veterans' benefits payments to original costs of other major U.S. wars.

Medium-level estimate of 20 percent (high, 30; low, 10) based on figures showing interest payments on war loans as percentage of original costs of other major U.S. wars.

Source: Except as noted, U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, The Military Budget and National Economic Priorities, Part 1, 91st Congress, 1st session. (Statement of James L. Clayton, University of Utah.)

Military Assistance Program

259

No. 409. MILITARY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM-VALUE OF GRANT AID DELIVERIES: 1950 TO 1972

[In millions of dollars. For years ending June 30. Covers programs authorized and appropriated by the Foreign Assistance Act and the Foreign Assistance Appropriation Acts. Does not include military assistance to Thailand and the other countries in Southeast Asia, which was formerly a part of this program but which has been withdrawn and put in the Department of Defense appropriation. Represents military equipment and supplies delivered and expenditures for services. Includes (a) equipment and supplies procured for the Military Assistance Program or from procurement or stocks of military departments; and (b) services, such as training, military construction, repair and rehabilitation of excess stocks, supply operations, and other charges]

No. 410. MILITARY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM-FOREIGN MILITARY SALES DELIVERIES: 1950 TO 1972

[In millions of dollars. For years ending June 30. Covers sales authorized and appropriated under the Foreign Military Sales Act. Includes deliveries of equipment, supplies, and services purchased for cash, U.S. Government financed credit, and U.S. Government guaranty of privately financed credit]

Source of tables 409 and 410: U.S. Dept. of Defense, Office of the Secretary, Military Assistance and Foreign Military Sales Facts, 1972.