The United States Department of Defense publishes military personnel numbers on a quarterly basis (Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec).

The last time the US had an overseas active-duty force of 200,000 or more was in 2017.

Will the United States return to or exceed 200,000 overseas active-duty military personnel (in any quarter) before 2030?

For easy reference, here are the active-duty totals from each September from 2016 to 2023 according to the Department of Defense:

• Sep 2023: 168,571

• Sep 2022: 171,736

• Sep 2021: 174,711

• Sep 2020: 168,766

• Sep 2019: 174,253

• Sep 2018: 172,797

• Sep 2017: 215,249

• Sep 2016: 198,557