Americans know about Occupy-Wall-Street’s 99 percent vs. the 1 percent. Most have heard about the secretly recorded “47 percent will vote for Barack Obama no matter what” remark Gov. Romney made in at a fund raiser. Those that follow the presidential election campaigns know about presidential daily tracking poll percentages. How many Americans know about the all-important 0.45 percent?

That’s the percentage of the U.S. population that has served in the military since 9/11.

Current CIA Director and retired U.S. army four star General David Petraeus, in speeches he has given in recent years points out; “In World War II, 11.2 percent of the nation served in four years. During the Vietnam era, 4.3 percent served in twelve years. Since 2001, only 0.45 percent of our population has served in the Global War on Terror.”

Another percentage General Petraeus likes to make us aware of is “Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10 percent veterans with only one person having a child in the military.”

This election season the principal issues that concern American voters are about percentages. What percentage of their income should wealthy Americans pay in taxes? What shrinking percentage of working Americans will support a growing percentage of Americans on Social Security and welfare? What percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) should the national debt be? What percentage of the annual federal budget should go to national defense?

Nowhere among concern for these issues is concern about the shrinking percentage of Americans that risk and sacrifice life and limb to defend our freedom and democracy. After all, we have an all-volunteer military now. The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force have all the recruits they need. What’s the problem?

The problem is this. Not only is there a growing gap between the segment of American society that sacrifices to defend us and those that take America for granted and expect government to provide more and more for them; but the skills and values military service instills in veterans and they in turn instill in American society is being lost as older generations of veterans die off.

Those 11.2 percent of Americans that served during World War II returned home, started new businesses, and raised their families. They were the leaders of America that turned it into the world’s greatest superpower.

The much maligned 4.3 percent that served during the Vietnam War were no different. I know; I am one of them. We were spat on, jeered at, and vilified in movies and on TV. Nevertheless, we did what every generation of American veterans did before us, we came home when our service was done and overwhelmingly became productive members of our communities. Like all American combat veterans before us, we were different people from the young men and women we were before.

I often tell people that when I get up in the morning and I know I have to face a particularly difficult problem I think back to my most difficult combat experiences in Vietnam and I say to myself, “No matter how hard it’s going to be today, it won’t be that hard.” It helps me deal with life’s difficult journeys.

Since the Revolutionary War, America has been a country where veterans have been the nation’s steel spine. Thirty American presidents had active military service. Twenty-six of them were war veterans. Of the last three American presidents only George W. Bush wore a military uniform and that was in the Texas Air National Guard. Of the two current candidates for president neither has served in the military.

Indeed, it’s likely Americans could go for decades now without electing a man or woman who had served in the U.S. armed forces. The longest period in American history we have gone without a president who had served in the military was 36 years (1909-1945). Right now we’re at 20 years and counting since a president served on active duty.

Certainly there are good reasons we no longer have the high percentages we once had serving in the military. America no longer needs large standing military forces. Soviet armored divisions aren’t poised to overrun Europe. It no longer takes hundreds of bombers to destroy a target. Today it only takes one; and that one won’t necessarily have a human pilot. The global war on terror requires elite special operations units and counterinsurgency forces, not divisions and corps. Our armed forces are leaner and more capable. Bringing back the draft wouldn’t solve the problem.

What then is the solution? The answer to that question is that there is no obvious solution. Partially because of the way Vietnam War veterans were treated, but mostly because of their own accomplishments, the U.S. armed forces today are the most respected institution in America. Americans, overall, cherish and respect our veterans. We understand the sacrifices they and their families make for us.

Nevertheless, as fewer Americans bear the burdens or benefit from the experience of military service. Politicians in Washington, D.C. want to slash the U.S. defense budget to the bone, leaving our men and women in uniform ill-equipped and ill-prepared to go in harm's way. That isn’t good for America.

No nation whose wars are fought by a few good men and women but whose political, economic, and social decisions are made by those who have never shared their experience can long endure.

The next time someone throws a percentage statistic at you, think about the 0.45 percent and ask yourself what you have done today to deserve the freedom they fight and die for. The next time you hear a politician tell you that deep cuts in military spending are necessary, ask yourself if they understand what they are proposing.