United States Department of Defense

Total numerical strength of the Armed Forces on February 29, 1996, based on preliminary reports, was 1,500,524. This is a decrease of 1,421 from January 31, 1996 and a decrease of 73,293 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 1995 was also 65,000 military personnel.

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

		02/29/96       01/31/96     Change from Prev. Month	
	      (Preliminary)    (Actual)		Amount  Percent	       02/28/95
  Total DoD    1,500,524      1,501,945         -1,421  -0.09%        1,573,817 
                                                                       
  Army           500,582        501,435           -853  -0.17%          532,335 
  Navy           432,102        431,424            678   0.16%          454,079 
  Marine Corps   173,187        173,887           -700  -0.40%          174,033 
  Air Force      394,653        395,199           -546  -0.14%          413,370 

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.