Veterans Day has been recognized as a federal holiday each November 11 since 1938, but it means little for most Americans beyond a day off from work.
Attendance at Veterans Day events is regrettably low—and declining rapidly. And so is the veterans’ population in America.
World War II’s “Greatest Generation” is almost entirely gone. And the Korean and Vietnam War generations are aging. Over the next 20 years, the overall population of veterans like me will drop dramatically from about 19 million people to roughly 13 million.
If, as they often say in politics, demographics is destiny, the social, economic and political power of veterans is about to fall off a cliff.