The Unemployment Military Paradox

There's been a significant number of headlines recently regarding how the American military will proceed in Afghanistan. The higher ups will make their decisions, and what happens will happen. But here's something I've been thinking about: How heavily would a military cutback influence unemployment?

I mean, there are approximately 1.3 million active military personnel right now (DoD). There are approximately 15.1 million unemployed (and another 9.8 million underemployed). So if 1.3million Americans came home without jobs, that'd bump up our unemployment total to 16.4million, or about 10.6 percent (or 17% if we calculate it the same way they did in the depression).

Now obviously all the soldiers wouldn't come home, and in truth I'm trying to make a point around the concept, not the actual #'s. But if you are a congressman or senator at some point you have to think: "Damn, if we end this war and that war and such, what the hell is my state going to do with all those soldiers at home without work?" And, conversely: "Gee if we sent more soldiers over that'd be a lot less unemployed people in my state." I mean, there are approximately 700,000 soldiers in reserve. Thats a lot of jobs....

Anyway, I guess I'm just realizing that the decision to ramp up in Afghanistan or to bail out is a lot more complicated than just our ability to accomplish our objectives.