Fun Facts and Humor

Women in the Military:

• Two women served as nurses aboard the United Sates in the War of 1812.
• Women, disguised as men, served on both sides of the civil war.  They also were spies and nurses.
• In World War I women served in two roles; nurses or telephone operators.
• In 1990, over 229,000 women served in active duty in the military services (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force).
• In the Gulf War, over 40,000 U.S. military women served in key combat-support positions.  They did everything that the male troops did, except engage in ground combat.

For more facts about women in the Military please visit:
http://womensissues.about.com/library/weekly/aa092801a.htm

Defense Industry:

• The Pentagon spends over $30 billion annually in research and development
  http://www.fas.org/asmp/fast_facts.htm
• One reason the defense industry has such influence in our government is because of federal campaign contributions.
  http://www.fas.org/asmp/fast_facts.htm
• 2001 world military expenditures topped $839 billion, while at the same time an estimated 1.3 billion people survive on less than the equivalent of U.S. $1 a day.
  http://www.arias.or.cr/
  

Military Training:

• The U.S. government is training soldiers in upwards of 70 countries at any given time. http://www.fas.org/asmp/fast_facts.htm