United States Department of Defense

The total numerical strength of the Armed Forces on Oct. 31, 1996 was 1,466,986. This is a decrease of 4,736 from Sept. 30, 1996 and a decrease of 47,263 from the same time in 1995.

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 1996 was also 65,000 military personnel.

October 1996 strength figures for each service with month- ago and year-ago figures for comparison are:

                  10/31/96     09/30/96        Change from Prev. Month    
                  (Actual)     (Actual)           Amount    Percent    10/31/95
  Total DoD      1,466,986    1,471,722           -4,736    -0.32%    1,514,249
  Army             490,783      491,103             -320    -0.07%      506,352
  Navy             414,044      416,735           -2,691    -0.65%      433,754
  Marine Corps     174,873      174,883              -10    -0.01%      175,583
  Air Force        387,286      389,001           -1,715    -0.44%      398,560

Please note 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.