The world of generation 1 Pokemon has recently gone through a massive war.

First of all, I would like to clarify that I did not mean that this war had just ended within the last few months or any time as short as that. I had meant that the player character's generation(11 year old) is the first generation to be born in peace time, as in, the war was at least 11 years ago(for the sake of argument, lets assume that it was 11 years ago). Con mentioned that an issue with my hypothesis is that generally, middle aged men would not be the ones to be drafted into the military once an imminent war threat comes to terms. First of all, the average enlistment age is 19-20, and a commissioning age of 23-25. The majority of those in the military tend to be of ages 18-35 . Since 11 years have passed since the war, the average ages of veterans in the war would be 29-46; the majority of these ages could be described as middle aged, so the validity of my claim is not being reduced by this. Another possibility is that total war was declared by Kanto, similar to what happened to many European nations in WWI. The best example of total war in WWI is probably Germany, which enforced a mass draft on the vast majority of the male population, in the hopes of getting more troops to the borders to continue the war on 2 sides. This draft took people from all facets of the population, not just those of ideal serving age, which would explain why in Kanto, not only those of the ideal age were serving. Con brings up the fact that Lt. Surge was born in America, which after researching, I have found to be true. This does not necessarily mean that the war he was referring to with his quote is an American war. Many European immigrants into America fought in significant American wars (such as the civil war, WWI, and WWII for example), so it is logical to believe that American immigrants into Kanto would fight in Kanto wars (such as the one we are discussing). This would also explain Lt. Surge's nickname, "The Lightning American". I doubt that an American soldier in the American military would stand out enough to earn a nickname for being American. More likely, he would stand out as being an American in the Kanto military, and thus get a nickname for it. The fact that the war took place 11 years ago would make Lt. Surge a 19-23 year man around the end of the war (assuming that your statement about his age is correct), and this is optimal military age. Con brings up the fact that you actually do come across many middle aged people throughout Kanto, but this middle aged population of Kanto, although existent, is skewed. Using this website as my guide (http://factfinder.census.gov...), I compared the age populations of Kanto to that of the USA. I chose the USA to compare it too for a few reasons, but the most important of which is that the USA age population has not recently been significantly skewed by any disease, war, or other disaster. Using the USA as a control, we can see how the populations of Kanto compare to that of a relatively normal nation. USA child population: 41,221,045, or 13% USA middle aged population(I defined middle aged as 30-59):126,679,041, or 40% Looking at this, it is easy to see that the population of Kanto is skewed, as although the middle aged population could be argued to come close to 40% of all encounters seen, the amount of children you encounter is FAR higher then 13% of the entirety, so therefore, the population of Kanto is skewed. Con brings up the point that a likely reason that there are not many entertainment facilities is due to developmental reasons, but this is irrelevant, as we are treating Kanto as essentially a real place for the sake of debate. Con brings up the Game Corner as an example of the entertainment facility in Kanto. It is not unusual that a casino will survive during wartime, as the depression that war can cause will cause many people to flock to establishments such as these in the hopes of easing the sadness. The fact that one casino remains in operation does not disprove the idea of economic focus during war. There are 7 cities, 2 towns, and the charred husk of an old town in the region of Kanto. The fact that 1/9 of Kanto settlements possesses one entertainment facility is not evidence of the success of the entertainment industry. Con brings up the absence of bombed or destroyed structures, but this is irrelevant, considering the fact that the relatively simple engineering throughout Kanto could easily be repaired within 11 years. Con also brings up the absence of war evidence on other regions, but this is unimportant, as we can see that America's existence is canon in the generation 1 Pokemon universe, as if it was not, how could Lt. Surge be from there? Logically, if America can exist in the canon of Pokemon, why can't many other nations, such as Japan, Vietnam, Germany, etc. The fact that there is no evidence of war on other regions is irrelevant, as there are many nations with which Kanto could have been at war with.