Making the decision to join the military is a big one that affects not only the person who will be wearing the uniform but also family members, and even close friends. Military Life 101 is a brief orientation to life in the military.

This paper analyzes trends in world military expenditure by examining the shares of different country groups and the ratio to GDP of individual nations. The coverage is military expenditures in 125 countries from 1972 to 1988. The study also compares military expenditures as a proportion of...