The Department of Defense (DoD) maintains over 420 military institutions domestically. Known as Bases, camps, posts, stations, yards, or centers, they sustain the US military forces at home. While their main functions are to train, deploy, and support troops these installations also have a wide effect on the states in which they reside. The DoD contributes billions of dollars to state economies with the operation of military bases. This spending both directly and indirectly helps the local community. To measure the economic benefits, 21 states have recently completed military impact studies.
Florida completed one of the first studies based on the 2008 Fiscal Year. It’s key findings stated that military bases in Florida provided $58.1 billion in gross state product (7.5% of total); 686,181 direct and indirect jobs; in 2008, average military earning per job were $70,505 compared to an average of $37,563 for all Florida jobs; and defense related spending accounts for up to 47% of economic activity in certain counties. Texas completed their study in 2012 finding that their state totaled $23 billion in DoD military expenditures with a total economic impact of $148 billion; $83 billion in gross state product; employ more than 255,000 military and defense-related civilian personnel. The most recent study was completed by Virginia in 2014 that finds defense spending ($59.6 billion) as 13% of gross state product and military spending accounts for 44% of federal spending in Virginia.
Bloomberg Government’s 2011 study ranks Virginia, home to two major military installations (Naval Station at Norfolk and the Joint Base Langley-Eustis at Hampton) as the top state in overall military spending.
How can one measure the success of such spending?
Our study decided to investigate if that money translated into the highest military award, the Medal of Honor. We examined Medal of Honor recipients over three conflicts and researched each recipients home state.
