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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 213 -- Miltary Demographics.

U.S. Military Demographics-

Recently, WILLisms.com took a look at military demographics, bunking the notion that the military is a repository for poor folks with no other options in life.

More interesting facts on military recruitment and enlistment:

9/11 had a subtle-but-interesting impact on military demographics.

The racial makeup of military recruits is not that far from the population as a whole. The average African-American individual, however, is more likely to become an officer and spend an entire career in the military than the average white individual.

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.

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.

Some interesting research that doesn't quite fit with the insinuations and allegations of the media-cultural-industrial complex.

Read more here.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 11 November 2005 11:11 AM

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