Analysts across the political spectrum are concerned that with only 0.43% of Americans serving on active duty, the divide between the military and the society it serves is widening.

Indeed, in 2010 former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that with military bases being concentrated in just a few states, and with the shuttering of many military facilities in the northeast and on the west coast, a “void of relationships and understanding of the armed forces [has been left] in their wake.” Consequently, Gates warned that “there is a risk over time of developing a cadre of military leaders that politically, culturally, and geographically have less and less in common with the people they have sworn to defend.”

Accordingly, isn’t anything we can do to re-acquaint Americans with their military (and, perhaps even more importantly, vice versa), a worthy investment for American democracy?