It's difficult to determine how many people will be at the dinner table? It's so difficult that $16M is the margin of error?
Let's see. How about a generous estimate of $30 per soldier per day (food shouldn't cost that much but I'll assume they're paying for preparation too). Seven months=210 days=$630 per soldier for that period.
So, guys, where did those extra TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND SOLDIERS come from? Hmm?
