873 active duty generals or admirals, where's the 5000 or so

[madokie]

I keep hearing and reading about?

US Census Press ReleasesThe number of active duty enlisted members of the armed forces. They were led by 223000 officers. Of the officers, 873 were generals or admirals. ...
www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001630.html

[blm]

1. They're training the 230,000 Iraqi soldiers BushInc told us about.

,

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. There all at the officer's club in Cocoa Beach awaiting bingo night....

at the club at Patrick Airforce Base. It least it seems that way when I go there.

BTW, the officer's club at Patrick burned down a year ago....

[Suich]

2. How many retired generals/admirals are there?

:hi:

[madokie]

4. in my search I read something like 5000 or so, google it.

[acmejack]

3. I was totally unable to figure that out.

I devoted about half a day to it. I determined it was a fictitious figure, like so many others. They DO have a history of inventing facts to fit their claims, whenever it is convenient!, A General Officer can serve until he is 62 or something like that.

[madokie]

8. Us old vets are going to have our day in the sun yet.

[LA lady]

5. Here

Marines 82 Active Duty 400 Retired
Air Force 13 Active Duty 86 Retired
Army 312 Active Duty 1700 Retired
Navy 1000 Active Duty 1500 Retired

My EX husband is one of these!

[madokie]

6. Thank you

[acmejack]

9. Would you please provide a link to that?

Lady, it is de rigueur to do so here, thanx. I found multiple links supporting the 873 figure, none supporting the higher number which you state. Not that I doubt, but I would appreciate the link to reference in the future.

[SoCalDem]

10. When I posted this last week, I was informed that the 8K figure included

Guard and reserve retired as well.... Whatever the number,it's still groundbreaking when 8 come out against Rummy:)

[acmejack]

11. Oh I fully agree.

As I stated, I am merely attempting to prove or disprove the veracity of the 8K figure. I know there are the 800 some active general officers and I am simply looking for the 7100 others. Which is a hell of a lot of them to be retired and in the reserves... I still claim they created this number, just as they do so many of their other "facts"!

[NoPasaran]

12. Here's a link

For an estimate of 3,100 to 6,300 RETIRED generals and admirals: http://www.slate.com/id/2139847/sidebar/2140026/

Does that number seem like a lot? Not to me. Generals retire from active duty when they are still quite young by civilian standards. Here are three examples of generals who are presumably familiar to most DUers.

William Westmoreland (recently deceased} born 1914, graduated from West Point in 1936. He was LBJ's ground commander in Vietnam and later Army Chief of Staff before retiring in 1972.

Colin Powell, born 1937, retired 1993 after 35 years in the Army.

Wesley Clark, born 1944, retired in 2000 after 34 years in the Army.

So we see that even generals who have had the longest service and risen to the very top of their career ladders are leaving at an age when they might still have another decade or two left for a second career, plus however many years they might live on after their "second retirement". So, while the actual number may be hard (or impossible) to calculate, I don't find it at all unreasonable that there may be four, five, or six times as many retired generals/admirals as there presently are on active duty.

[Neil Lisst]

13. and how many of them were 2-4 star Marine or Army who served in this war?