11/87Amount the Pentagon budgeted for Star Wars research in 1987: $3,500,000,000
Amount it budgeted for basic technology research for the Army, Navy, and Air Force: $3,233,000,000
3/88Amount the Army is spending on 1,100 canvas and plastic decoy M-1 tanks: $3,630,000
3/88Number of toll-free calls received by the Army’s spy informant hotline in the past year: 19,000
10/90Bottles of suntan lotion the U.S. Army purchased in August from a Kmart in Hinesville, Georgia: 25,550
11/90Number of sandbags the U.S. Army has shipped to Saudi Arabia since August 2: 2,000,000
3/90Ratio of U.S. soldiers killed to those wounded in the U.S. invasion of Panama: 1:14
Ratio of Panamanian soldiers killed to those wounded in the invasion: 2:1
Percentage of the Panamanians killed in the invasion who were civilians: 39
9/90Amount the U.S. Army spent last year on recreational target-practice programs for civilians: $5,000,000
1/91Number of months a U.S. soldier can function effectively in the Saudi desert, according to the U.S. Army: 6
1/91Pounds of Saudi Arabian sand the army has imported to study its effect on military equipment: 150
10/91Number of generals who have retired from the U.S. Army since the end of the Persian Gulf War: 41
4/91Number of cats the U.S. Army has shot in the head since 1983 in order to research battlefield injuries: 648
5/91Number of plastic garbage bags the U.S. Army has estimated will be needed to clean up Kuwait, per month: 1,500,000
12/92Percentage change, since 1980, in the number of military personnel and dependents seeking psychiatric care: +74
7/92Number of soldiers the U.S. Army expected to leave the service as part of a voluntary program begun last fall: 10,000
Number of soldiers who had volunteered for the program by January, when the Army suspended it: 20,000
1/94Ratio of the number of New York City cabbies killed last year to the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Somalia: 6:5
10/94Percentage of Americans who say “nothing the U.S. could accomplish in Haiti would be worth the life of one U.S. soldier”: 50
11/94Number of U.S. soldiers certified as fluent in Haitian Creole: 161
2/94Number of U.S. soldiers who identify themselves as Muslims: 2,500
2/94Weeks after his arrest for shoplifting last year that a former secretary of the army was hired as a Pentagon consultant: 12
8/95Number of U.S. Army tanks the Army Corps of Engineers plans to “deploy” off Alabama’s coast this year to create a reef: 100
3/97Chance that a magazine sold at a U.S. Army, Navy, or Air Force base is an adult magazine: 1 in 5
7/97Number of years the U.S. Army estimates that its supply of sand-colored, aircraft-size camouflage coverings will last: 159
10/98Number of consecutive intercept tests failed by the Army’s $15 billion high-altitude anti-missile system: 5
Years behind schedule the system’s research-and-development program is running: 3.5
10/99Minimum number of U.S. Army bases in which space has been reserved for Wiccan soldiers’ seasonal rites: 8
2/99Estimated number of wind-surfing lessons per week provided for soldiers at Kuwait’s U.S. Army base: 60
Number of scuba sets available: 85
1/00Ratio of the number of U.S. soldiers who died from disease during World War I to those who died in combat: 1:1
6/00Number of “psychological operations” specialists that the U.S. Army sent to work for CNN last year: 5
Percentage change since then in the number of U.S. troop deployments: +400
1/01Amount the U.S. Army plans to pay the entertainment industry this year to develop training videos for combat: $45,000,000
11/01Chances that a U.S. soldier in the Vietnam War volunteered: 4 in 5
Chance that a U.S. soldier in World War II did so: 1 in 3
2/01Estimated percentage of U.S. Army troops deployed in Bosnia who will be replaced by National Guardsmen in 2002: 50
1/02Number of mock biological attacks with live bacteria carried out domestically by the U.S. Army between 1949 and 1969: 199
Year in which the Army released bacteria into New York City’s subway system: 1966
1/02Ratio of the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire since 1990 to the number who have committed suicide: 1:5
10/02Number of U.S. soldiers missing in action since 1945: 88,135
3/02Number of journalists and U.S. soldiers, respectively, killed by hostile fire in Afghanistan last year: 7, 1
Number of these journalists who were American: 0
5/02Percentage change since January in the number of words in the Army secretary’s Web bio devoted to his Enron career: -85
8/02Number of countries in which at least one U.S. soldier was stationed last year and in 1950, respectively: 148, 95
8/02Days that a U.S. soldier was investigated in May for calling Bush”a joke” in a letter to a newspaper: 10
1/03Percentage of U.S. high schools receiving federal aid whose students’ contact information the army sought last fall: 100
Average amount of aid each school district stands to lose if its schools do not supply the information: $762,083
12/03Average number of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion began: 9.2
3/03Chance that a U.S. soldier killed in the Persian Gulf War was a victim of enemy aggression: 1 in 3
4/03Estimated percentage change since 2000 in acres of Texas recognized as wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers: -40
5/03Number of U.S. soldiers who faced disciplinary action between 1998 and 2000 for refusing an anthrax vaccine: 441
7/03Tons of toxic soil that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has removed from the site since 2001: 10,660
10/04Total “ death gratuities ” the U.S. government has paid since then to survivors of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq: $11,436,000
10/04Total amount Ohio’s crime-victims compensation fund has paid the survivors of one U.S. soldier killed in Iraq: $5,656.77
11/04Number of U.S. soldiers returned from Iraq in the last year who have been diagnosed with mental-health problems: 5,375
12/04Number of overseas bullet suppliers the U.S. Army contracted with last year and this year, respectively: 1,5
3/04Number of U.S. soldiers whose retirement or leave has been postponed by the Army to maintain troop strength: 3,500
10/05Projected cost of disability payments to Iraq War veterans by 2050, based on rates for Gulf War veterans: $285,000,000,000
11/05Number of volunteers who are making personalized quilts for the next of kin of all U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq: 150
Current backlog of quilts they face: 588
12/05Minimum number of U.S. generals in Iraq using private security companies for their personal security: 4
12/05Number of U.S. soldiers who have posted photographs of dead Iraqis or Afghans on Nowthatsfuckedup.com: 32
Cost of the access to the site’s pornography that each soldier was given in exchange: $20
2/05Cost of “The Sword,” an unmanned robo-soldier equipped with a rifle, machine gun, or rocket launcher: $230,000
5/05Number of female U.S. soldiers disciplined this year for mud-wrestling at an Iraqi prison camp: 2
5/05Number of “certified laughter leaders” employed by the U.S. Army to help families of reservists: 20
8/05Number of new U.S. soldiers the Army would need in 2006 to replenish ranks abroad: 80,000
Percentage of this goal it expects to meet: 9.9
8/05Percentage change since 1996 in the average recruitment cost per new U.S. soldier: +84
8/05Number of Iraqi troops that have been “trained and equipped,” according to President Bush in April: 150,000
Number that the U.S. military considers ready to deploy independently: 1,500
10/06Percentage change since 2004 in the number of Army recruits admitted despite records of “serious criminal misconduct”: +54
12/06Number of life-size photo cutouts of troops that Maine’s Army National Guard has given to relatives: 200
12/06Chances that a Guantánamo detainee was turned over to Coalition forces by an Afghan or Pakistani citizen: 9 in 10
Average reward that leaflets airdropped over their countries promised for every “terrorist” turned in: $5,000
12/06Percentage change from 2004 to 2005 in the number of criminal violations by U.S. military recruiters: +106
5/06Percentage of U.S. soldiers in Iraq who say the war was a retaliation for Saddam Hussein’s role in the 9/11 attacks: 85
8/06Number of officers whose resignations the U.S. Army Reserve has refused since December 2004: 426
11/07Amount that a U.S. Army private paid a man to shoot him in the leg last July to avoid another tour in Iraq: $500
2/07Number of Silver Stars the Army has awarded so far for heroism in the Iraq and Afghan wars combined: 249
Number it awarded for the Vietnam War: 21,630
7/07Number of U.S. soldiers who have died in combat or non-combat situations while on duty since 2001: 9,185
7/07Percentage of U.S. soldiers who say they “know for certain” that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian: 23
6/08Minimum number of U.S. Army generals fired or replaced for cause during World War II: 23
Number during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined: 1