WASHINGTON, DC (CNN/WBTW) – People across the United States are spending Veterans Day honoring the men and women who served the country.

Some 22 million veterans and service members are currently eligible for burial at the historic Arlington National Cemetery, where officials say they are running out of space.

The rolling green lawns of Arlington National Cemetery are the final resting place for more than 400,000 active duty troops, veterans and their families.

“The story of those remembered today is one of extraordinary sacrifice, it’s a story of lives cut short, of hopes and dreams never realized,” said Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.

For more than 150 years, these hallowed grounds have recorded the history of America’s veterans and 1,500 of the first Black combat soldiers who served in the Civil War were laid to rest here.

Presidents are here, and so are hundreds of young troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now however, the march of time has caught up and Arlington is running out of room.

“We want to stay open for 150 more years, so not just our current generation, but that five-year-old who is going to raise his or her hand one day to serve this nation, we also want to be available for them for our future,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, Executive Director of Arlington National Cemetery.

Proposed new rules still allow burial for those killed in action and recipients of the highest awards such as the medal of honor, but for others, such as retirees and veterans otherwise not eligible, they will have to choose cremation and urn above ground.

The numbers alone are staggering.

Today, there are 22 million living armed forces members and veterans who are eligible for burial, but less than 95,000 burial spaces remain.

It’s a sensitive issue for today’s younger veterans.

“I’ve talked to quite a few veterans about this issue and mixed reactions, but mainly a big sense of disappointment that this is signaling that this is coming to an end, and I think that most veterans would like to be able to see the possibility that maybe they might be able to be buried there. I know I certainly would like to myself,” said Thomas Porter, with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

But, Arlington says there simply is no choice–expansion and changes are vital.

“We will fill up. So, without a change in criteria we will be closed in about the year 2041,” said Dunham-Aguilera.

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