| No. 275-98 | ||
| (703)697-5131(media) | ||
| IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 2, 1998 | (703)697-5737(public/industry) |
The total numerical strength of the Armed Forces on March 31, 1998 was 1,408,370. This is a decrease of 7,674 from Feb. 28, 1998 and a decrease of 34,768 from March 31, 1997.
These figures represent full-time military personnel comprising both regular and reserves on active duty and officer candidates, including cadets at the three military academies.
Excluded from these figures are approximately 65,000 full-time military personnel who are paid from other than active duty military personnel appropriations. This group is funded from appropriations for reserve components and Corps of Engineers civil functions. A comparable figure for Fiscal Year 1997 was also 65,000 military personnel.
March 1998 strength figures for each Service with month-ago and year-ago figures for comparison are:
| 03/31/98 | 02/28/98 | Change from Prev. Month | ||||||||||||||||
| (Actual) | (Actual) | Amount | Percent | 03/31/97 | ||||||||||||||
| Total DoD | 1,408,370 | 1,416,044 | -7,674 | -0.54% | 1,443,138 | |||||||||||||
| Army | 480,428 | 483,308 | -2,880 | -0.60% | 482,847 | |||||||||||||
| Navy | 384,781 | 387,325 | -2,544 | -0.66% | 404,691 | |||||||||||||
| Marine Corps | 171,567 | 172,643 | -1,076 | -0.62% | 173,011 | |||||||||||||
| Air Force | 371,594 | 372,768 | -1,174 | -0.31% | 382,589 | |||||||||||||
The active duty personnel strength data provided does not include Selected Reserve strength ordered to active duty by the President under Title 10, United States Code 12304.