Read

June 6, 2026 — Burden Sharing: Not So Much

Check out this week’s blog post by IP attorney, author Timothy Trainer, host of the podcast and video show Tim’s Travails • Follow Tim on Substack

Waking up on June 6, this page is blank. Memorial Day weekend is still visible in the rearview mirror when people in the United States remembered those who gave all in the defense of the country in all the wars that we have fought since the Civil War.

June 6 is different. It is a day when millions in many countries commemorate the day that thousands of allied troops stormed the beaches in France hoping that this would be the beginning of the end of the global war. Eighty-two years after D-Day, very few actual survivors of that day and that war remain.

In less than a month, the United States will celebrate 250 years since declaring its independence. Undoubtedly, there’ll be a lot of parades, fireworks and other celebrations. The flag will be the predominant symbol. We’ll see it on hats and other apparel, the flag will be fluttering in the breeze, hanging from lamp posts, fitted and displayed on front porches and in every other way imaginable. It’s the symbol of freedom.

Yet, interestingly, over the decades, the percentage of the U.S. population willing to bear the burden of serving in uniform to protect what millions profess to be our valued freedoms and rights has fallen.

As I write this on June 6, World War II likely marked the high point of service. With over 16 million serving in uniform, this represented 12 percent of the U.S. population.

Twelve percent of the U.S. population served in World War II. – History Facts. During the Vietnam War, despite its unpopularity, conscription (draft) resulted in roughly five percent of Americans serving in uniform. Statistics – Vietnam Veteran Project. Another source indicates that at the peak of the Vietnam War in 1968 about two percent of the U.S. population served on active duty. Which States Carry the Greatest Military Burden? | Security.org.

After the attacks in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, and despite the surge in military enlistments for the war on terror, today’s uniformed service members make up less than one (1) percent of the population. Which States Carry the Greatest Military Burden? | Security.org.

Like a sporting event, the sidelines are packed with flag-waving fans. I wouldn’t doubt that some shout in unison USA! USA! when they watch a clip of a US launched missile destroying a target. They’ll feel pride hearing news announcing that our troops have destroyed an enemy asset.

What 99% won’t see is the physical and mental price paid by those who are on the playing field wearing the uniform and doing the dangerous and life-threatening deeds.

Given all the solicitations to provide funding to help those who have served and suffered, do our commemorations of D-Day, Memorial Day and our celebrations on July 4 prod us to insist on better health care for those who do serve? Why are so many of the programs now in place to help veterans initiated by individuals and private or charitable organizations?

If we continue to have a system that places the burden of national defense on less than one percent of the population on active duty, it seems the rest of us should bear the burden of insisting that they are cared for through government programs that provide the physical and mental support necessary after they’ve served and sacrificed.

Any administration that wants over a trillion dollars for more weapons systems for wars of choice should be required to ensure that there are tens of billions made available for future care of those being placed in harm’s way.

---

About the Timothy Trainer: Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector, and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.

Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff. 

Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific, was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains.

In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection.

In 2025, he published the sequel, The China Factor, which ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list in May.

Click here to learn about all of Tim’s books.