---
title: "Public, Veterans Agree: Most Americans Don’t Understand Military Life"
description: "More than eight-in ten (84%) of veterans of the post-9/11 wars say the American public has little or no understanding of the problems faced by those in the military, an assessment with which pre-9/11 veterans and the public shares."
date: "2012-08-06"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2012/08/06/public-veterans-agree-most-americans-dont-understand-military-life/"
---

# Public, Veterans Agree: Most Americans Don’t Understand Military Life

During a decade of sustained warfare after 9/11, only about 0.5% of the American public has been on active duty at any given time. By comparison, the comparable figure was nearly 9% at the height of World War II.

A Pew Research center survey that studied this military-civilian gap found that 84% of modern-era veterans saythe American public has little or no understanding of the problems that those in the military face. The public shares in that assessment, albeit by a less lopsided majority (71%) and so do veterans of pre-9/11 wars (76%).

A [separate report](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/11/23/the-military-civilian-gap-fewer-family-connections/) based on this survey noted that as the size of the military shrinks in the years following the phase-out of the draft in 1973, “the connections between military personnel and the broader civilian population appear to be growing more distant.”

While more than three-quarters (77%) of adults ages 50 and older said they had an immediate family member — a spouse, parent, sibling or child — who had served in the military, adults under the age of 50 now are much less likely to have family members who served in the military. Some 57% of those ages 30-49 say they have an immediate family member who served. And among those ages 18-29, the share is only one-third. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/10/05/war-and-sacrifice-in-the-post-911-era/6/#chapter-5-the-public-and-the-military)