Military percentage in Hawai'i tops nation

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

Hawai'i's military showed its might in the 2000 census as the state topped all others with the largest percentage of people in the armed forces.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the percentage of people in Hawai'i, ages 16 to 64, in the armed forces was 4.95. The top five states also included Alaska (4.05 percent), Virginia (2.76 percent), North Dakota (1.74 percent) and North Carolina (1.71 percent).

In raw numbers, Hawai'i ranked eighth in the nation, with an estimated 39,056 people on active duty in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

The states with the greatest numbers of people in the armed forces were coastal states in the west and the south, the report said. The states in the top 10 ranged from California, with an estimated 148,677 people in the armed forces, to Maryland, with an estimated 32,166 people.

The northeast was the only region without a state among the nation's military-population leaders. The two states with the fewest people in the armed forces were Vermont, with an estimated 761 people, and New Hampshire, with an estimated 819.

People assigned to military installations outside the United States, and crews of military vessels with a home port outside of the country, were not included in the report. They are considered part of the U.S. overseas population.

Hawai'i is home to several large military installations, including Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, the Army's Schofield Barracks Military Reservation, and Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay.

Counting family members, Hawai'i's military population has been estimated at 50,000.