[Thunder90]

Here is the liberal's interpretation: "Rednecks die more in Iraq because they are right winged God fearing gun toting nationalist warmongering conservatives....blah blah blah.."

My interperatation-Rural area people are more likely to take infantry and other high-risk positions within the military than their suburban or urban counterparts.

[ClaireSolt]

There is a lot more money and sophistication in those Kansas towns that an AP reporter would be able to discern.

[Rembrandt_fan]

You wrote, "My interperatation-Rural area people are more likely to take infantry and other high-risk positions within the military than their suburban or urban counterparts."

I agree wholeheartedly. Another thing, too: most of the guys I served with were like me, from a rural area, with a strong family tradition of service in combat arms. Every male member of my family has served since we came over on the boat, since the Civil War. Of course, none of the skills I learned in the airborne infantry translate to the civilian world, but I didn't join for the paycheck or the benefits--back then, twenty-some years ago, there wasn't much of either, anyway.