# What percentage of the U.S. military branches' soldiers are on the "pointy end of the stick"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-u-s-military-branches-soldiers-are-on-the-pointy-end-of-the-stick/597741>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 27, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-u-s-military-branches-soldiers-are-on-the-pointy-end-of-the-stick/597741 "2011-09-27T04:17:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-u-s-military-branches-soldiers-are-on-the-pointy-end-of-the-stick/597741/1 "2011-09-27T04:17:35Z")

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Obviously, war needs a lot of stuff (let’s just leave it at that 🙂 ). Many soldiers are in the muck, but far more back them, down to the coffee kid orderly in some shit hole base somewhere.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Leo, in a good mood today. Just thought I’d mention it.

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**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-u-s-military-branches-soldiers-are-on-the-pointy-end-of-the-stick/597741/2 "2011-09-27T04:19:37Z")

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> **[Ratio of Combat Troops To Support troops?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=172546)**
>
> Years ago, I read that in the American Civil War, there were almost 10 front-line combat troops for every support person in the rear. In WWI, this ratio had changed-there were now about 3 support troops for every 10 front-line soldiers. In WWII,...

I have seen numbers anywhere from 4:1 to 10:1.

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-u-s-military-branches-soldiers-are-on-the-pointy-end-of-the-stick/597741/3 "2011-09-27T04:36:05Z")

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Thanks for quick answer.