@Anonymalous wrote:
Only about 0.5% of Americans are currently in the military, but if you include all those who have served the number increases to 7%. If we include people who have an immediate family member who is a vet, that jumps to 77% among Americans who are 50 and older. This is largely due to the draft -- these are children of Vietnam War vets. This percentage drops steeply in younger age cohorts, as the country shifted to voluntary service (57% in those 30-49, 33% in those 18-29), but Navy Fed allows the grandchildren of those who served to become members. So that 57% is likely to be close to 77%, and the 33% is likely to be close to 57%.
In other words, it's a safe bet more than 2/3rds of people in the country qualify for membership with Navy Fed.
The data is all from a Pew Research poll in 2011:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2011/11/23/the-military-civilian-gap-fewer-family-connecti...
Yes, the qualification net grows quite quickly. When I joined this forum and heard all the praise of NFCU I thought that would be good but I can't get in... I was very briefly tempted with the loophole, but didn't bother. Then I realized that my wife's father had been in USMC, so she could join, and then so could I, even though I am an alien (who fought against US troops in 1812, well, I was young then). That is how they grow.....
