FACT: By law, there are no more than 435 members of the US House of Representatives.

FACT: Of these, 92, or 21%, are veterans. Of these 92, 22, or 24%, are Democrats. (Source: US House of Representatives.)

FACT: The Veterans Administration estimates that as of April 12, 2012, there were 22,234,000 veterans in the US. This is 7.2%.

There are, percentage-wise, more veterans in the House than in the general population. Recently the DoD stated that no more than 11 to 12% of those eligible to serve in the US military could be accepted -- the main causes for rejection are educational deficiency (lack of high school diploma or equivalent) and/or obesity.

Why do those who did not serve -- such as Newt Gingerich, Karl Rove, Richard Cheney, John Ashcroft, and Paul Wolfowitz -- denigrate those such as John McCain and Max Cleland who did? I really would like to understand.

It also seems that it's becoming fashionable to be a veteran -- such claims have been made and revoked by some recently...I believe some from each party.