WEBVTT - How Big is the US Military? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.560 Guess what, mango, what's that? Well? Alright, so I was 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.760 reading this article from the Guardian. This was back in 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.280 two thousand twelve, I think, and it was about the 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.239 Swiss Air Force. So there was this emergency with this 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.800 hijack plane over Swiss territory, so like no small deal, 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.439 something they really needed to deal with. But instead of 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.160 the Swiss Air Force escorting the troubled plane back to 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.200 Geneva and that would be typical, it was actually handled 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.599 by the French and Italian air forces. So, um, why 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.000 is that? Well, because it was six oh two am 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.520 and apparently that was two hours before the Swiss Air 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.520 Force came to work on and that can't be true. Yeah, 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.080 they at least it wasn't two thousand fourteen. So here's 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.600 a quote I found from the Guardian. It says, um, 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.720 there's something almost too civilized about a country whose fighter 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.720 jet stick to office hours. I mean, this is crazy. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.880 So they supposedly keep this eight to five schedule, they'll 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:49.720 break for an hour and a half for lunch, and 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.480 until two thousand seventeen there was no service on weekends. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.080 It's pretty crazy. And I know this all sounds crazy, 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.160 but it was also because the Swiss didn't feel the 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.360 need for it, and they're military budget and so they 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.840 just they'd make arrangements when neighboring air forces to you know, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.840 be on call whenever they were off. And it's an 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.880 interesting way to spend military money. I don't think this 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:12.440 is how it's done in the U. S. If I'm 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.319 not mistaken, but it did make me wonder like, how 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.040 much does our country spend on the military and where 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.120 exactly does that money go? And that's what today's episode 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:43.959 is all about. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.400 Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:48.640 by my good friend man gues Ticketer, and the man 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.160 on the other side of the soundproof glass wearing camo 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.800 in honor of today's topic is our friend and producer 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.360 Tristan McNeil. He's always so prepared noticed this. Oh wait, 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.320 he's saluting us, thinking, good job, Kristen. All right, so 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.920 today we're answering the question how big is the U. S. Military? 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.840 And we're gonna be answering that from a few different angles. 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.000 You know, how much money has been how many people 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.000 are employed by the military, how many bases does the 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.120 US have and then other questions like how many countries 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.200 are we obligated to protect based on treaties and you 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.560 know things like this. Yeah, and our goal with this 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.279 episode is to answer these questions out of pure curiosity, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.600 not to make any sort of political point. It's kind 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:28.400 of funny when you cover a topic like these, people 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.640 are always a little on edge and so ready to 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.959 pounce if they sense any bias. It always makes me 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.119 think about that time in Mental Floss and the year 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.480 we published a cover of the magazine with the headline 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.320 Wildest Rides to the White House. Yeah, and keep in 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.840 mind this was about a decade ago. Anyway. The cover 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.440 showed to roller coaster ride and in the roller coaster 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:51.040 was I think Nixon and Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.400 of course Hillary Clinton. Well, and if you remember, you 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.280 could see Lincoln's hat flying off in the background. And 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.200 now again, we we always tried to stay pretty free 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.320 of politics Mental Flaws because we saw ourselves as kind 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.200 of this break from the news and all of that. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:08.320 But that issue generated so much angry male like more 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.560 than any other issue did from both sides of the 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.280 political spectrum, and those on the left were angry that 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.040 we used the photo of Hillary looking like she was screaming, 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.359 and and those on the right, we're angry because Hillary 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.600 didn't belong in that car, having never been a president. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.160 But the reality is we felt we had no other 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.360 choice but to use that photo because there were no 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.040 fewer than like a hundred photos online of Hillary doing 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.280 the roller coaster face at least there are so many 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.240 to choose from it. But you're right, I mean, it 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.880 looked so real And you can actually google image search 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.119 this cover today. Just type in mental Flaws, Wildest Rise 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.280 to the White House and you'll see the cover that 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.120 we're talking about. That's a great example of what we're 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.440 dealing with here, And so as you listen to the episode, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.160 try to keep in mind what our goal is, and 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.600 that's to answer this question. All right, So let's get started. 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.960 You know, the timing on this topic is pretty interesting 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.480 because while we're watching all of the fighting going on 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.280 over healthcare and a new tax plan and things like 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.360 the National Anthem, it almost went unnoticed that a couple 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.840 of weeks ago, the Senate passed their version of the 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.680 National Defense Authorization Act, and unlike so many other votes 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.920 these days, this one wasn't even close. The vote was 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.040 I think like eighty nine to eight, and they passed 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.760 this authorization of a seven hundred billion dollar funding for 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.800 the military for the upcoming fiscal year. And that happens 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:26.400 to be even more than the Trump administration had proposed, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.640 which is crazy. And I thought it was a bill 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.560 of over twelve hundred pages, and you know, well, one 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.320 of these days I want to do an episode entirely 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.839 on how bills of that length are actually drafted, because 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.440 that's a lot of pages. Kidding, I wonder if anybody 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.360 read all twelve hundred pages. But yeah, that's seven hundred 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.200 billion included six hundred forty billion for basic Pentagon operations 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.120 and then another sixty billion for ongoing war operations. So 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:52.320 we're talking places like Iraq and Syria, Afghanistan, you know, 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.640 those are the biggies in the group. Yeah, and so 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.000 most of that funding goes to the Department of Defense, 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.520 but there are additional funds to the Department of Energy, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.800 which is is uh, you know, responsible for the US 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.839 nuclear program, the Department of Homeland Security, the Veterans Administration, 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.839 the Military Retirement Trust Fund, and also health care for 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:14.760 retired military members as well. As allocations for intelligence agencies 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.919 because they have specific defense assignments. Yeah, and and and 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.920 those also have money authorized separately. So there are some 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:22.760 estimates you know that when you look at all the 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.159 agencies involved in our national security and military it it 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.600 may actually be closer to a trillion dollars annually. So 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.240 if we go with that seven billion dollar figure, the 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.640 military comes in second in terms of the largest federal expenditures. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.200 You know what's first? What's that Social Security that comes 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.040 in around one trillion dollars? But where does that put 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.800 us in comparison to other countries? Well, you can look 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:46.480 at this in a few ways, but I think maybe 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:48.360 we should look at it into So first you can 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.320 look at it as total dollar amounts spent um, and 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.359 then you can also look at it as a percentage 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.760 of GDP. Now, in terms of total dollar amounts, the 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.520 US spends more each year than the next eight countries combined. 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:02.240 So what I want to tell me what those eight 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.320 countries are? No, I want you to guess. All right, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.039 I'm looking at the two thousand sixteen figures here and 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.479 and the estimates on the US spending from that year 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.080 were about six hundred billion. Actually a little bit more 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.479 than six hundred billion. So I mean, I probably have 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.720 to guess the first two or past the US are 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.320 China and Russia. Maybe yeah, you'd be right to guess 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.799 them in exactly that order, but they're not as close 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.120 as you might think. So the estimates I was looking 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.800 at have China spending about two hundred and fifteen billion 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.320 on their military and Russia only spending about sixty nine billion. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.280 So that's less than a third of what China spent. 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.400 That's crazy, Um, But I mean I guess it kind 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.440 of makes sense when you think about the population, because 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.200 I think China's population is about like ten times that 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.279 of Russia and they have something like one point four 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.359 billion people. I think, yeah, that's a good point. But 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.400 I feel like you're just kind of stalling. Here are 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.280 you looking at your phone? I'm just texting with my mom. Okay, 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:57.039 all right, Well what's your next guest? Um? Germany? I 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.800 guess yeah, they coming at number nine at forty one 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.760 billion dollars, And uh, what you know, North Korea is 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.920 in the news. How where where do they fit into this? Well, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.400 you know, they spend a massive amount on their military. 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.200 We all know that. But because they're so secretive we 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.240 actually really can't know, so they're not included in the 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.760 list that I'm looking at here, So we're gonna put 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.960 them aside for now. But alright, one more guests and 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:20.200 then I'll just go ahead and tell you the rest 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.120 of the list. How about the UK, Yeah, they coming 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.120 at number six at about forty eight billions. So let's 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.640 go back to the top ones here at fourth is 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.360 Saudi Arabia sixty yeah, and then India at fifty five billion. 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:35.560 And one of the things surprised me the most in 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.920 terms of just how high they ranked is France at 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.960 fifty six billion dollars. Then you've got the UK as 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.280 we mentioned, Japan, Germany as we also mentioned, and then 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.960 South Korea rounding at the top ten at about thirty 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.600 seven billion dollars. So I think you're saying it's a 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.800 slightly different picture if you look at the spending as 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:53.920 a percentage of the g d P. Yeah, it's you know, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.000 it's interesting, not just to look at it in terms 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.160 of how much other countries spend and comparing it to that, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.080 but even looking at it, you know, it's compared to 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.400 previous decades. So the US spends a smaller percentage of 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.800 its GDP on military now than it did in the 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.760 mid twentieth century. And that's also the case for most 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.600 countries in Europe and the Americas. So let's go back 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.840 to nineteen sixty and we were talking about in the 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.320 neighborhood of like eight point four percent of our GDP 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.520 being spent on the military at that time here in 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.120 the US at least, and in two thousand and sixteen 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.400 that was only three point three percent. So it's a 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.640 significant decline when you're looking at it in those terms. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.240 And according to the World Bank, the world average in 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.880 nineteen sixty was around six percent. Today it's around two 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.600 point two percent. So you've seen a decline really across 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.800 the globe in terms of percent of GDP. But last year, 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:42.920 the country that spent the most on their military as 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.120 a percentage of GDP was Oman at thirteen point seven 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.480 uh Saudi Arabia being a close a second there, let's 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.840 see they were at just under ten percent, and then 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.719 the Democratic Republic of the Congo at a little over 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.480 seven percent. Now, again keep in mind that because North 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.280 Korea is so secretive about all this, we really don't 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.439 know exactly what they spend. But I've seen some reports 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.600 that were guessing around thirty of their GDP being spent 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.240 on the military, which I clearly that that isn't that surprising. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.640 But so, so back to the u S. How is 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.400 that money divvied up? All? Right? Well, since the vast 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.720 majority goes to the Department of Defenses budget, so let's 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.440 let's look at that right now. The biggest percentage of 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.000 that at about goes to their general day to day 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.600 operation and maintenance. So you know, this includes things like 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.760 equipment maintenance and training and healthcare program. And you know, 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.839 it's also where civilian employees and contractors go, which I 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.320 feel like we should talk about in a bit, But 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.640 this isn't where the members of the military go. Now, 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.760 that's a separate category of its own, and that makes 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.160 up about twenty seven or twenty eight percent, And that 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.200 includes not just the pay for those in uniform, but 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.800 things like housing and subsistence allowances and other costs like 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.040 those moving you know, military families to new locations stuff 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:01.280 like that. So I'm scribbling these numbers down fort Okay, so, 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.920 speaking of military families living on bases around the world, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.680 I just wanted to do this quick Tangent. Do you 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.000 know that stores on military basis don't accept pennies and nickels? 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.280 Apparently they're not worth their costs and shipping because they 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.600 way too much. But back to your Matthew, I scribbled 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.319 it down and it looks like it's at about sixty 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.920 seven or sixty eight percent between those two. So what 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.840 else is on there? Well, first of all, I enjoyed 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.480 that Tangent. I did not know that. Well, the other 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.320 big category, about thirty one percent, combines all the investment 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.760 in new technologies, you know, R and D, as well 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.280 as testing an evaluation of that R and D work, 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.480 and this is some really fascinating stuff and it's no 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.920 surprise that it would require a ton of money to 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.920 stay on top of the latest technologies, really in many 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.480 ways to create the latest technologies, when you think about 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.880 how important that is for the military. So let me 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.480 just give an example of this. And as a side note, 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.560 it's super interesting to look through the various budget allowances 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.480 for specific R and D projects, and you can do 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.200 this through the Department of Defense Investment budgets search. Alright, 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.640 So so the example here the armies zero six zero 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.480 three seven one zero A night Vision Advanced Technology. I 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.360 have no idea what those numbers stand for, but I 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.600 kind of like saying that to just make me sound official. 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:15.160 I know, I was gonna ask if you're sequence in 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.040 the army Army reserves. Yeah, I'm not at liberty to 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.280 say a mango, so but but but anyway, the cost 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.960 for the fiscal year two thousand and seventeen is just 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.440 shy of forty five billion dollars. And here's the description 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.440 of that project. Project Case seven zero pursues technologies that 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.240 improve the soldiers ability to see at night and provide 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:38.480 rapid wide area search to enable passive long range target identification. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.840 Evaluate sensors and algorithms designed to detect targets, you know, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:47.080 whether that's vehicles or personnel, and in camouflage or concealment 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.559 and deception from airborne platforms. So this is some super 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.880 sophisticated stuff. Yeah, and and I mean they're spending four 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.360 million dollars on it, so it's got to be pretty incredible. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.920 But uh so, according to my map based on your number, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.040 is I think that all adds up to about eight 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.400 or of my calculations are correct. Yeah, there's a few 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.640 other things there, so that the remaining like two ish 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.800 person is a combination of smaller things like military construction 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.640 or family housing, just a few odds and ends that 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.079 all add up right there. So this is the thing 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.520 that just like baffles me with with such a huge 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.640 budget and so many people involved in making these spending decisions, like, 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.720 how is all of that managed? Well, it's definitely not easy, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.080 and they've actually had some issues with this, and so 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.040 they brought in some people from Mackenzie to even consult 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.240 on this and and just to make sure they could 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.160 wrap their heads around how all the money was being spent. 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.000 So this was back in two thousand, fourteen and fifteen, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.160 and the Department of Defense found that it was spending 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.800 about a fourth of its budget on overhead and administrative matters. 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:48.840 So that's a ton of people in it, and you 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.880 can imagine that it's difficult to really keep a handle 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.120 on that and easy to see how that could swell 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.400 out of control in some ways, or at least do 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.400 so in a way that they don't know exactly how 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.720 it's being spent. So, in fact, the Pentagon's back office 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.679 bureaucracy employed over a million people, so that's about three 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.800 hundred thousand of those being in the military, almost four 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.480 hundred and fifty thousand of those being civilians, and then 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.000 another two hundred sixty eight thousand I think it was 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.120 being contractors. It's a lot of people. So Mackenzie and 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.960 this advisory board, they worked to help the Department of 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.520 Defense kind of you get a much better handle on 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:26.480 what they were spending. And after their analysis, they realized 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.439 the department was spending about fifty more than they'd previously 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:35.360 guessed on business operations alone. That's kind of crazy. So well, 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.120 I I definitely have a couple of other questions for 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.160 you before we get to the size of the military 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.920 from a personal perspective, which I actually looked into. But 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.440 before we tackle any of that, why don't we break 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:53.320 for a quick quiz? All right, mango, So it's time 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.720 to play a little quiz. And as you know, we've 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.600 allowed some of our listeners to write in and tell 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.640 us why they should be on the show. And one 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.840 of those wrote in. His name is Liam and he 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:08.000 was a nuclear trained electrician on submarines in the Navy. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:12.040 How perfect an episode on How Big is the US Military? 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.040 But Liam, welcome to Part time Genius. Thank you, glad 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.240 to be here and where are you joining us from 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.040 Hampton Roads, Virginia? Okay, terrific? All right, well, you know, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.680 let's let's start with that fact that you were a 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.600 nuclear trained electrician on submarines in the Navy. So, so 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:34.760 what exactly is a nuclear trained electrician? So? Uh? By rate? 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.040 Uh or you know, job description. When I joined the Navy, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:39.800 I was an electrician. I went to school for that, 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.360 and then later went to school to learn how to 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.240 operate and maintain a nuclear power plant because all of 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.720 our submarines are nuclear powered and the aircraft carriers are 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.760 also nuclear powered, and that was that was the job 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.000 I got to do. Wow, well, thank you for doing 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.120 a good job with that. That's really cool. Um. And 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.640 so how long were you on submarines for? Uh? Well, 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.920 I was in the Navy for thirteen years. Most of 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.520 that time was was on board submarines, with a short 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.120 stint at a shore duty command and the training before that, 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.960 so I don't say about eight of those years I 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.000 was on submarines. Wow, what's the most fun thing that 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.760 happens on submarines? The most fun thing? Well, I'd probably 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:23.200 say halfway night, um, halfway through underway and schedule underway. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.000 We have a little celebration just getting to that port 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.840 point and knowing that, you know, it's all down hail 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.920 from there. We're heading home soon. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, well, Liam, 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:35.640 you may have thought it was a tough job to 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.400 to be an electrician in the Navy, but but actually 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.880 we've got something even tougher for you. We've got one 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.120 of our very important quizzes. Mango. What's the name of 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.360 today's quiz. It's called Oh captain, my captain? All right, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.760 So every answer is a fictional captain, and we're gonna 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.240 see how many of these eight fictional captains you can 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.800 get right in. What are we saying? Ninety seconds? So 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.360 we're gonna set the clock to ninety seconds. This is 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.960 some high press your stuff, just like summer in, just 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:06.280 like submarines. Are you ready, Liam, I'm ready? All right, 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.160 here we go. We'll get started. The captain that hung 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.800 out with Spock on the Enterprise. Also his middle name 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:17.720 is Tiberius Captain Kirk, that's right. This captain is featured 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.720 on cereal boxes and sales the s s Guppy Captain Crunch. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.840 This captain considers Peter Pan his nemesis, but he's more 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:30.040 afraid of crocodiles. Hook Hook Hook. This captain is from 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.640 a kid show played by Bob Keishan was named for 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:37.520 a marsupial. Oh Captain, Kangaroo. That's right. This captain sits 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:43.000 on the label of spiced rum bottles. Oh Captain. This 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.720 captain once punched Hitler on the cover of his comic 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:51.520 book Captain America. This captain was featured in Moby Dick 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.840 Moby Dick that one my mom would would would kill 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.000 me for not knowing that she was big in the literature. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.200 But don't remember that. Let's go to the last one 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.360 real quick. This captain slash environmental superhero used to save 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:09.400 the Earth on Saturday mornings. Captain Planet. He's a hero. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.480 So Liam went seven for eight. He still had thirty 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.440 seconds on o'clock and he just missed Captain Ahab. That's 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.480 the only one in which which I think probably qualifies 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.280 in for a big prize. What do you think. Yeah, 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:29.000 we're gonna send you a big box of Captain crunch. Well, Liam, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:30.399 thanks so much for all the work you did in 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.080 the U. S. Navy, and thanks so much for joining 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.800 us on part time genius. Oh thanks for having me, guys, 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:48.439 I I really enjoyed it. Thank you. Welcome back to 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.359 part time Genius now le Mango. Before the break, you 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:52.960 were saying you had a couple more questions and before 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.320 we dive into personnel and look at our bases around 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.320 the world, let's let's talk about those. Yes, something I've 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.080 seen several reporters write about only is something they referred 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:04.200 to as the quote black budget. Okay, can you explain 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.320 what that is? Yeah? Sure, that this is where the 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.320 funding for you know, covert military programs comes from. And 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.400 and in most recent years it appears this was something 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.719 like fifty to sixty billion dollars allocated to to this 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.240 black budget. And there was a really interesting Wired article 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.719 back in two thousand and twelve, and the quote from 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.160 that it says, to put it in perspective, the Pentagon 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.960 is still spending more unclassified projects than most nations spend 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.280 on their entire military forces in a year. So that 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.840 doesn't include the regular budget for intelligence funding, right. Yeah, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.080 So when you include the funding from you know, the 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.320 national intelligence program, which is where agencies like the CIA 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.679 would fall, we're talking another fifty billion or so. So 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.480 when it's all added up, we're probably looking at like 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.880 a hundred and twenty billion dollars for these black accounts, 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.080 as you call them. Sure, and and these days the 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.119 US is covert and intelligence gathering operations are super important 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.680 and a big part of the way the government looks 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.680 to protect citizens from terrorist attacks or other dangers. Yeah, 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.160 and and the amounts have fallen in a pretty similar 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.880 range for many years now. And and during the Cold 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.440 War spending was almost certainly about the same, though it's 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.920 really difficult to pull historical data on intelligence spending for 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.760 for reasons that aren't all that surprising. But all right, well, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.040 why don't we jump to personnel now, since this is 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:20.840 something that you looked into, So why don't you tell 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:22.960 me what you got. Sure, So, I've pulled a lot 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.320 of numbers, and and here's the overall sense of it. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.320 In two thousand fifteen, the U s is total number 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:32.600 of active duty military personnel was a million threety seven thousand, 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:35.800 And that's just shy of five percent of the total 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.439 number of active duty military personnel in the entire world. So, 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.800 and that's if you combine all the militaries of all 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.080 the countries, and then if you include the reserve forces, 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.840 the current number of military personnel is over three point 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.639 five million. That means that about point four percent of 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.520 the US population is on active duty and a little 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.840 over one percent or either active duty or reserve personnel. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.199 And how does that compare to previous years? I mean, 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.760 I feel like that total number is down a little 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:04.959 bit over the past couple of decades. Right, Yeah, So 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.200 if you go back to like two thousand, the total 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:09.679 number of active duty is a little over five percent 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.320 smaller now than it was back in two thousand. And 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.280 if you go back to all military branches except for 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.639 the Coastguard, have really seen a decrease in active duty members, 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:23.600