Vietnam Veterans Now the Largest Group of Vets

Veterans Day is a United States public holiday to honor military veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces. Veterans Day was initially Armistice Day, a public holiday created in 1938 to commemorate the end of World War I and the veterans who fought in that war. In June of 1954, after both the Korean War and World War II, Armistice Day became a holiday to honor all veterans.

The demographic makeup of veterans has changed greatly since those early days. About 1.6 million veterans are female, with that number expected to double by 2040. As compulsory service in the armed forces is also no longer a requirement, the number of congressional representatives who have served has dropped dramatically. In 1953, 74 out of 100 members in Congress were vets. In 2017 only about 20 Senators were veterans.

The senior veteran population is rising. There are now about 9 million veterans who are above the age of 65. The highest proportion of wartime veterans are now the Vietnam Veteran cohort, followed by soldiers who saw time in the Gulf War and the War on Terror. The aging veteran population only elevates the importance of providing quality health care for people who served.