U.S. Military Demographics?

Question

John Kerry recently said that if you are uneducated then you will get stuck in Iraq. This question has nothing to do with wheater he was insulting the Troops in Iraq or insulting the Bush Administration. I want to know if it is true that there are a disporportionate amount of uneducated people (young people) in the military. In fact I want to know the break down of the recruiting demographics of the US Military.
1) What are the percentages of black, hispanic, and white, etc. being recruited into the Military?
2) What is the average income of a recruit before they join?
3) What is the average amount of education of recruits before joining?
Is there any website that has this kind of information, or someone with this inside knowledge that can prove it through a book or something.

Answer 1

As a retired member of the US Navy these answers are solely from my experience.

1) Most of the minority representation are a few percentage points higher then population trends. Recruitment is usually higher in depressed economic areas. This is offset somewhat by drug screening and requirements for a High School Diploma (the Army has lowered its standards and drug waivers may be possible now).

2) The main recruiting drives usually come from High Schools and Colleges. So usually the recruits themselves are only earning minimum wage. This is more due to youth. Older recruits usually hold down typical jobs (often blue collar).

3) As above, HS or some college. The services often encourage people to develop themselves professionally and many obtain a college degree while in the service.

Answer 2

while many recruits are high school graduates upon enlisting, the militaries all provide excellent education and training. In many fields, such as electronics, Computers and Nuke, the training alone is equivalent to at least an Associates degree. MANY active duty personnel find the time to continue their education while serving.

Income levels are often lower.. but as I said.. they are HS grads who can't get anything but a Mc Job anyway. when my husband enlisted, he was making MORE money as an E3 then he was working on the economy. He had a 4 year degree going in. and couldn't get a job as a HS Math teacher, which is what he was.

Answer 3

I can't give you correct statistics but I've been around the MC my entire life, I can tell you this much............most of our troops join with little to no college (and I'm not talking officers, they're in a different league). Marine Corps Times put out an article not too long ago that gave the racial break down of it's members. It pissed people off, the belief with us is that we're all green. But you'd have to be a fool to think one joins for money or education. Most people I know joined for direction and stability. We stay out of love. I know it isn't what you were looking for but try The Marine Corps Times, maybe it will list a source.

Answer 4

Studies using census data has shown that the "richest" 1/3 of the country (identified by zip codes supplied by the IRS) has more men and women join the military (identified using the zip codes recruits gave on their enlistment papers) than the poorest 1/3 of the country.

Answer 5

Every one of the troops have at lest a high school diploma. many have some college.All the officers have college degrees.

Do you really think that the troops are a bunch of stupid people? just loot at the equipment they are using.

Answer 6

He is absolutely right. All our jobs have been sent to China or India,
why are people signing up for service only because they cannot get
jobs in America.

Answer 7

google my friend, google.