is it accidental that most MILITARY volunteers come from lower class families?

Answer 1

Unless you're postulating some form of mind control that forces selected people to sign up, yeah, it'd pretty much have to be.

I mean, we are talking about volunteers, not conscripts.


There are any number of demographic correllations, though. For instance, higher education has a positive correllation with liberal politics and a negative one with poverty, so since people seeking higher education would not enter the military right away, and might have anti-military political leanings, you'd expect less educated people to enter the military more often, and that would also mean they'd be poorer - just statistically. Similarly, very young adults tend to have lower income than older adults - and the military won't take older adults at all, so that would also skew the recruitment statistics towards the lower end.

OTOH, if you were to just look at officers - who require a college education - you might see a different correllation.

Answer 2

Sorry, but you're totally wrong. Extensive study and analysis has been done on the subject. The military is mainly middle class and has become more upper middle class as the war in Iraq has dragged on.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda05-08.cfm

Who Bears the Burden? Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Military Recruits Before and After 9/11
by Tim Kane, Ph.D.
Center for Data Analysis Report #05-08



Conclusion

A large shift in public opinion about the desir­ability of a military draft occurred in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Most Ameri­cans instinctively rallied to the flag and wanted to do everything to protect the nation. As a result, the draft became one of the issues that received renewed emotional support. Support eroded in succeeding polls, as evidenced by the fact that 70 percent of Americans currently oppose reinstate­ment of the draft. This sentiment is especially strong among the young.

We know that the Pentagon strongly prefers a voluntary force. However, support for a draft will likely surge again if, or when, America suffers addi­tional terrorist attacks. Emotion and reason agree on the necessity of defeating terrorism, but reason demands that the conflict be fought as effectively as possible, and that may require policymakers to resist popular calls for a draft.

This paper reviews the demographic status of the all-volunteer military and refutes the claim that enlisted troops are underprivileged and come from underprivileged areas. In terms of education, household income, race, and home origin, the troops are more similar than dissimilar to the gen­eral population.

Put simply, the current makeup of the all-vol­untary military looks like America. Where they are different, the data show that the average sol­dier is slightly better educated and comes from a slightly wealthier, more rural area. We found that the military (and Army specifically) included a higher proportion of blacks and lower propor­tions of other minorities but a proportionate num­ber of whites. More important, we found that recruiting was not drawing disproportionately from racially concentrated areas.

Perhaps more could be done to dismantle the claim that an all-volunteer military relies dispro­portionately on ignorant, black, poor, urban young citizens in America, but the evidence already clearly shows this claim to be hollow.

Nevertheless, the Army is facing a shortage of new recruits for the recruiting year that ended in September. The shortage is minor?about 7,000 less than the goal of 80,000 new recruits?in a mil­itary with over 1 million members, but it will fuel ongoing calls for a military draft. Policymakers should remember that recruiting was also difficult in 1999 (when the economy was strong), but not so difficult in 2002?2004, in the immediate wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The Department of Defense reported 352,839 appli­cants for active component enlistment in fiscal year 2003, and it accepted 176,408.[9]

Logically, this suggests that if terrorists strike America again, young Americans will be more? not less?willing to volunteer for military service. We can also anticipate that successful terrorist attacks will result in a resurgence of popular sup­port for a draft. All Americans hope that day will never come, but if it does, Congress needs to remain steadfast in opposing coerced conscription and expose the myths of racial and class exploita­tion in military recruiting.

Answer 3

No, it's not accidental. I wouldn't say "lower class", either - unless you mean "lower class" as in, not the rich and famous.

Think about it. There are many reasons why people would want to join the military, and while there are certainly kids from affluent families who join for the experience, or because they genuinely want to be in the military, a lot of people join for reasons such as getting job training, making something of themselves, or because this is a good way for them to afford college.

There are a lot of kids out there who are "behind" in many ways. Some are behind on a good education because they can only afford to go to a public school that might not be the best school in their district. Others live in towns that don't offer them a lot. Or they don't have a lot of opportunities to get any job training after school. Naturally, these people are more likely to join the military because they can get an education and training their, and they can get out of the area they're living in and maybe build a good life elsewhere.

Answer 4

Where did you get the 'fact' that most volunteers come from lower class families.

My friend's brother (20+ years in the Navy) and son (4 years in the Marines) just left the service. They say that most of the enlisted personnel were from middle class families. Many of the officers were from upper middle class families.

Answer 5

N O, Most of the US MILITARY VOLUNTEERS
come from middle class to upper middle class families and they all have HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS and 1 to 2 years in college and some have degrees already.

Answer 6

Wow... I agree that your facts are flawed.

I was upper-middle I guess (Dad had a PhD.)... my brother and I both served: he for 6 yrs USNR officer, me for 10 yrs USN enlisted and 5 years USNR officer. Four of the kids our age in the neighborhood also served.

I WILL agree that military service is certainly attractive to someone in the lower-class who wants to move UP.

Answer 7

No! It's a conspiracy! The lower classes of military age are rounded up in the middle of the night and forced into boot camp. Shhhhh!! No one is supposed to know this! I've already said too much.

Answer 8

Sorry you are wrong, my brother was in the military, we were a middle class family. My neice who I had custofy of is now in the military and we are upper middle class.

When you can back your nonsense up with facts, come talk to me!

Answer 9

Propagandists make my head hurt. "Like their peers in 1999 and 2003, recruits in 2004 and 2005 came primarily from middle-class areas. Poor areas are proportionally underrepre­sented in the wartime years (2003–2005)."
Go here if you can handle having another leftist 'fact' destroyed.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda06-09.cfm
Read the whole site if you ever have any intention of being a productive human being.

Answer 10

Lower class eh? Lets see, I own my home, (its paid for), I own a house on the water near the ocean,( making payments still on that one), own 2 new vehicles, (less than 3 years old), and put two kids thru college.
And to think, all this time I was lower class and didn't even know it......go figure.