All-volunteer military has created a red-state Army in the U.S.

The Salt Lake Tribune / The Washington Post ^ | December 15, 2008 | Danielle Allen

[2ndDivisionVet]

In Hopewell Township, N.J., the veterans of American Legion Post 339 have put their building up for sale. "Today's vets don't come out," 82-year old Jim Hall told The Times of Trenton last month. The post is down from 425 paying members in the 1960s and '70s to 202 this year; only about a dozen regularly attend.

But it's America that has changed, not vets.

Since 1970, the population of the United States has grown by about 50 percent, from roughly 200 million to 300 million. Over the same period, the number of active-duty armed forces has fallen approximately 50 percent, from 3 million to 1.4 million. A far smaller percentage of the citizenry now serves in the military.

Whereas in 1969 13 percent of Americans were veterans, in 2007 only 8 percent of us were.

Even more important than these general demographic shifts is the change wrought by the end of the draft in 1973. Until then, military service was distributed pretty evenly across regions. But that is no longer true. The residential patterns for current veterans and the patterns of state-level contributions of new recruits to the all-volunteer military have a distinct geographic tilt. And tellingly, the map of military service since 1973 aligns closely with electoral maps distinguishing red from blue states.

In 1969, the 10 states with the highest percentage of veterans were, in order: Wyoming, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, Oregon, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, Connecticut and Illinois.

In 2007, the 10 states with the highest percentage of post-Vietnam-era veterans were, in order: Alaska, Virginia, Hawaii, Washington, Wyoming, Maine, South Carolina, Montana, Maryland and Georgia.

Over the past four decades, which states have disappeared from the top 10? California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois, all big_blue states that have voted Democratic in the past five_presidential elections.

[dabluesman]

WASHINGTON STATE is a area that is “red state?” I think it is home to many military bases, filled with people from other states and I suspect other places are much like this one.

[cayuga]

The best armed civilians in the “Blue” states are concentrated in the inner city street gangs. These would be the cadres for Obama’s “Civilian Defense Force.

Hitler formed his SA and SS from the scum of Germany. I expect nothing else from 0bama.

[Tallguy]

One more random thought: Red states, those with higher representation in our armed service, are also those states which have the highest birth rates. Coincidence?

Probably not a coincidence. Families with multiple children have a different mindset.

A little off topic but I have noticed that a lot of female military officers are the only children of military fathers. I don't have any data to back that up, but it seems to hold for academy-trained females, at least. Think about the implications of that.

[JasonC]

And not one of our men should bleed a single drop for this pack of useless, defeatist traitors. Bring everyone home, instantly. None left out to dry by men who despise them. It is the last shred of honor this country has. Do it yesterday.

[Tallguy]

Not only that, Alberta, but employers located near major military bases actually put a premium on hiring prior-military because of their supervisory skills.

I call on a large metal furniture manufacturer located near Dover AFB. The place is filled with Air Force types.

[shove_it]

“This headline makes it sound like the Commies have the guns.”

Abso fn lootly! Everybody knows that friendlies are blue and the enemy is red. We need to take that color back.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I go along with your idea that “The Divine One” wants a minority private army. However, he is simply power hungry. Communism as an idea is really effectively dead.

[Kevmo]

That does explain it, I suppose. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms.

Having a Red State Volunteer Army controlled by Blue Staters is a recipe for rebellion or revolution.

[Billthedrill]

Having served in a Navy that had both draftees who didn't want to be there and volunteers who did I saw the difference. There is no comparison.

The real difficulty is that tough-talking lefties make very poor soldiers. Acts of random destruction are fine as long as they have a nice warm apartment to go back to, to listen to Rage Against The Machine afterwards, but the passion of the Left does not make up for its total lack of self-discipline (the two are not unrelated). A glance at Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, just about half-way through, gives us an idea of what happens when the passion runs out and reality sets in. It isn't pretty, and by then the espresso stands are all shut down and the beer no longer gets delivered to the revolutionary cafes.

To a great degree there was a visceral realization of this East-West dichotomy in the form of one Sarah Palin, whose image of triumph over a blood-soaked caribou evoked horror and revulsion throughout the ranks of the urban enlightened. These are accustomed to hiring their killing done for them whether it be man or beast. It is they who regard soldiers as hirelings and mercenaries. And they are very unaccustomed to hearing the word "No."

The notion of a Keystone Cop group of sad-sacks exerting their political will on the community works only if they are the only ones with guns. I do not anticipate many Revolutionary Cadre detachments setting up shop in western cities, not for long at any rate. In small towns, not for much after dark. In the countryside they'd just...disappear. And there's an awful lot of countryside to control. Just my $0.02.

[Freedom56v2]

All-volunteer military has created a red-state Army in the U.S.

<<Interesting read. Thanks for posting!

[Tallguy]

I take your point, but one other exception to the “Crossing the Rubicon” analogy would be.... Julius Caesar was “the peoples choice” with his skillful manipulation of the Roman Mob. In that sense, Caesar played the Obama-role (or visa versa?). Caesar overthrew a legitimate government.

[LS]

Both of you are right. I was chilled when I saw that "civilian security force" idea. We're talking SS here. And for years the libs have wanted a draft because they know that a draft is the quickest way to make a military inefficient. (The two world wars were exceptions: in both cases, it was thought there was an immediate threat to the existence of the U.S., and the exemptions were few). Even so, most scholarship says that the draftees were ok, but that the truly effective units were the specialized units---paratroops, engineers, Rangers.

The point is, the libs know that such things as college exemptions and liberal elite payoffs will keep the elite kids out, and therefore will turn the country against the military Vietnam style (even though 2/3 of those who served in Vietnam were volunteers).

[LS]

The good news is that inherently these people will NOT make good soldiers, will not be skilled enough to come anywhere near taking on dedicated civilian resistors, let alone the "red state" (real) military.

These people may think like the SS, but they ain't the SS.

[Islander7]

"...The real truth is there are too many pussies in the Blue states to tip the scales.....

You definetly have a way of getting to the heart of the matter! Military service is not very much on the "radar screen" of Blue State Yoots. Their parents & teachers want it that way...."



Redstate girl likes to cruise in Daddy's pickup truck
And a redstate girl plays her heart when she's down on her luck
Living for a friday afternoon
She's gonna show one ole boy that weekend moon

And I pray that someday I will find me a redstate girl

Redstate girl likes to stay out all night long
She makes sweet rock n' roll while she listens to the country songs
She's waitin' for that moment of surrender
Her hands are calloused but her heart is tender
And I pray that someday I will find me a redstate girl

Oh give me a give me a give me a redstate girl
Give me a give me a give me a redstate girl

Oh give me a give me a give me a redstate girl
Give me a give me a give me a redneck girl

------------------
See my profile for some real Red State beauties.

[MahatmaGandu]

Can't wait to see the Zero's new uniforms!

They'll probably look something like this:

[melancholy]

(In short, I want Obama given the same respect and deference that Democrats have given George Bush)

I treated him exactly as your tagline says for sometime. I've been calling zero "ape-in-chief-to-be". He may become our BOTUS on Jan 20, '09.

BOTUS = Butt-Of-The-United-States

[Alberta's Child]

Very good point. I hadn’t even considered that.

[Ace's Dad]

I can think of several derogatory terms of his “army” such as Bluebritches, Bluecoats,Islamoyouths,Muslim Marchers,Husseins Henchmen, Baracks Brigade...

"Purple Bellys" Re: "Firefly" comes to mind.

[LoneStarC]

A lot of interesting comments in this thread.

During the worst of the Clinton anti-military effort, an opposing sentiment within the military led to an underground publication within the military called “The Special Forces Resister.” It was so “unauthorized” that it there was a real effort to suppress it and find and punish any military personnel involved in publication, and even subscribing to it!

The theme of the publication was concern for the potential misuse of the military against the american public. At the time the general assumption was that, largely because of the draft, most military members would not balk at being used to forcibly disarm american civilians. At the time there was still a big carryover from the Vietnam war era.

Today’s military is made up of a much better slice of America’s young people. Typically smarter and better educated both militarily and academically. From what information has bypassed the MSM and made it to the public eye, it seems they also have a real understanding of what they are there for. From top to bottom the forces appear to believe in the mission and recognize that they are doing a good thing.

It is hard to quantify, but something that came to light before the recent election may offer a clue. A young woman soldier assigned the duty of accompanying a MSM reporter conducting a “poll” of soldiers on whether they supported Obama/Biden or McCain/Palin questioned 60 soldiers, one at a time. At the 60 point the reporter had found a couple who were undecided, 4 who supported Obama/Biden and a bit over 50 who supported McCain/Palin.

Of course when the report was telecast on tv, 5 of the interviews were used, 1 undecided, 1 McCain Palin and three of the four Obama/Biden supporters. No mention of the total number interviewed or the percentages. If the soldier had not emailed her parents before the news report, no one would have realized the fraud. Of course, it didn’t get much press, but does reflect the general level of reporting.

Isn’t it odd that when we started definitely winning in Iraq, that war became unmentionable on the evening news?

I think it is very significant that “The O” wants to form a national civilian force “as large and well-equipped as the US military” Does anyone believe that force wouldn’t be armed and for the express purpose of disarming the public. Sounds like The One realizes that he has a problem with the public meekly submitting to his plan eliminate the constitution as an effective control on government overreach.

The oath of office of the president, most other high officials, and all military officers are very similar in that they contain the phrase, “....support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foriegn and domestic...” The oath that I took as a new 2nd Lt. also had the phrase “..and that I will obey the LAWFUL orders of those appointed over me..” (emphasis added) As I understand that phrase, an order to directly violate the fundamental constitutional meaning of the 2nd amendment would not pass the “lawful order” test any more than would be one to execute civilian witnesses my superior officer wanted eliminated.

In the time “The Special Forces Resister” was published there was a high level of concern that the focus on “urban warfare” training was preparation for just such a pogrom against law-abiding US gun owners. If that concern arises again, as is likely under an Obama administration, it is inescapable logic that the Iraq war effort is just such a training program raised to an exponential level. It is by no means certain, however, that Obama can count on misusing the military against US civilians.

Americans had better find a way to anticipate and recognize what is almost surely coming. It is not going to be pretty.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Enlisted members swear the same oath.