Associated Press
The 4th Infantry Division, shipping out from Texas.
Posted on 04/06/2003 7:19:11 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Associated Press
The 4th Infantry Division, shipping out from Texas.
WASHINGTON — Does the United States military have to be representative of American society? The question has hung heavy since war with Iraq first seemed inevitable, and with it the possibility of heavy casualties. Now, with that war at a climax, a small band of critics continues to maintain that the all-volunteer force — which is 30 years old this year — is all-volunteer in name only.
They argue that relative economic disadvantage has replaced local draft boards in determining who enters the military, especially the enlisted ranks, and that it is un-American to have an affluent nation being defended by working-class young people, heavily layered with minorities.
"It's not fair that the people that we ask to fight the war are people who join the military because of economic conditions," says Representative Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat, who advocates a new draft.
When compared with other groups of the same age, the American military, particularly in its enlisted ranks, in fact has fewer rich people. But it also has fewer poor ones. It has more Southerners and fewer Northeasterners. It has a higher percentage of black people, especially black women, compared with the larger population, but a smaller proportion of Hispanics.
Defenders of the all-volunteer force, particularly in the Pentagon, quickly rebutted Mr. Rangel's arguments. They asserted that the military does reflect the country's population, especially when the number of officers — about one-seventh of the military, virtually all of them college graduates — is considered. They also note that while the median income for households that produce white recruits is lower than for other white homes, the median income of the families of black recruits is actually higher than it is for blacks as a whole.
Moreover, supporters of the volunteer force say, the military is, they say, more professional, better motivated and more stable when soldiers, sailors, pilots and others stay in for longer stints. They point to its performance in the Persian Gulf war, the Afghanistan campaign and now Iraq. And they shudder at returning to the often-troubled conscripted military of the Vietnam era, just to make a point about equity that not everyone feels could even be remedied.
"I served in a draft force," a senior Defense Department official said earlier this year. "I remember when enlisted folks fragged — as we liked to say — threw grenades into the officers' quarters in Vietnam. Not a pretty picture."
Comparisons with Vietnam gloss over the experience of World War II, when an American military force, heavy with conscripts, defeated the German military machine, considered at the time the world's best. Put side by side, the comparisons suggest that when it comes to efficiency and motivation, the issue may not be volunteers versus draftees, but a popular war verses an unpopular one.
But the central question about the volunteer force remains Mr. Rangel's: How much choice is there? In some sense the fact that blacks, especially black women, not only enlist, but re-enlist in a higher proportion than whites is seen as an example of the equal opportunity the armed services provide. But it could also be viewed as indicating the lack of opportunity — real or perceived — for African-Americans in civilian society.
Demographic trends don't promise to make the choices easier. With incomes having stagnated except for those people with college degrees, the percentage of youths choosing to continue their education after high school has exploded. In 1970, about 55 percent of men and about 48 percent of women enrolled in college right out of high school. By 1999, 63 percent of men and 64 percent of women were doing so. The sharp increases, which show no sign of leveling off, have put enormous pressure on military recruiters to fill their quotas.
The Defense Department has responded by trying to reduce the need to make a choice between military service and a college education. In recent years it has expanded programs to help members of the military pay for college after active duty. It has permitted more of them to attend college while in the service. So the issue of who serves and who doesn't becomes more and more a matter of who can afford college without help.
Recruiters' task is further complicated by some more specific educational trends as well. Studies have shown that one of the biggest influences on teenagers' career decisions is the educational attainment of their mothers — more so than of their fathers.
With the spectacular growth in the number of women going to college (they now outnumber men), the Pentagon faces a daunting prospect: some day, those legions of educated mothers will, at the same time, be setting a standard at home that will steer their children more surely toward college, even as their added income will help insure that the family has the money to pay for college without turning to military service.
"Parents are certainly major influences, mothers in particular," said Paul R. Sackett, a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota who studied the challenges that face military recruiters.
Among one group, Hispanics, increases in college attendance have not kept pace with those among blacks and non-Hispanic whites. This could mean that the percentage of the military made up of Hispanics will grow, and the chances that will happen received a boost from President Bush last July, when he signed an executive order providing that any legal immigrant who has been on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001, may immediately apply for citizenship, bypassing the normal three-year waiting period for military personnel and the five-year period for civilians.
But do all of these changes guarantee that the military will become any more or less reflective of American society? Consider this: Even though a shrinking proportion of teenagers has been seeking to enlist, the number of American teenagers is expected to grow in the coming decade, giving recruiters a bigger pool to appeal to. And even if the armed services sign up more Hispanics, demographers say the percentage of the population that is Hispanic is likely to rise relatively quickly too. So the military may wind up merely reflecting the country's demographic change.
Such calculations — and debates about whether the burden of military service will be fairly distributed — are the price of trying to keep an all-volunteer force in balance with a population that is, itself, constantly changing.
Rangel and the NY Times are full of it.
They're not going to be happy until a race war errupts inside our own military.
No, but it was a nice wander through the issue that never was. It seems like the author did a search, reread all the stories for the two weeks the left tried to create the issue, and condensed it all into this one article. At least (s)he (I didn't look) came to the right point that there is no story, without really knowing it. ;-)
It was predictable, I guess. I shouldn't be surprised.
One fact that stands out in my mind is the very small percentage of minorities in special forces.
I live in a town of 65,000 people just SW of Houston. We have one of the highest income levels in the state and the highest level of advanced degrees in any of the 254 counties in Texas. The people serving in the armed forces that I know from here include:
A Marine Capt. His mom is on city council and his dad retired as President of BMC Software with MANY millions of dollars.
An enlisted Marine who’s father is an OB-Gyn who just spent a fortune restoring the oldest Mansion in the area.
The son of a second OB-Gyn, who is I believe a Navy Corpsman.
A second city council member, worth a couple of million, who’s son graduated last spring from Vanderbilt, and was just Commissioned an Ensign in the Navy. His room mate was Ensign Andy Anderson son of the Attorney General of the United States.
An attorney who is an Army Reserve JAG Major who also did 9 months in the Balkins.
The Marine Capt. Son of the most liberal newspaper writer in the area and her attorney husband who is a former county Democratic Chairman. (I think he votes Republican)
The enlisted Marine brother of one of my wife's teaching team mates. His parents are well to do and the father owns his business. He is in the unit that Rick Leventhal from Fox News is with.
These people have vast resources and contacts, but their children still serve.
God Bless them all, and the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
I just want to get in on this. The Times (and their credulous readers) are putting military service, and only in this case, into the perspective of doing time in order to get something - sort of like prison and potentially worse. Actually, the military has it's own demographic, as it is it's own culture. The rewards are so much greater than just college tuition for anyone who chooses to commit AFTER signing up, whether they stay for three years or beyond twenty. Their background stays in the past. I think the Times is trying to say that it is "welfare with chem suits and a gun" - a new societal abuse.
I guess the marxist at the NY Times do not want to explain this one. Alot of Southerners have grown up with guns and living outdoors while people from the Northeast have not. I believe our military "recruits" Southerners because of their backround and by nature, adapt to being a front-line soldiers easier than someone who is not.
My uncle, who is a decorated WW2 vetern, says that when a replacement would come into his platoon, he'd always hope for a farmboy since they had grown up with firearms, hunting, and had outdoor living savy. Funny thing about him saying that since he was a city boy.
What a stupid question. The lefties are lost in a fantasy world.
I happen to be one of those, by the way. I was brought up in a gritty inner-city working-class neighborhood and my options were limited. My parents couldn't afford to send me to college. The public school system I went to was horrible and I got a very poor education (relative to those in the more affluent suburbs). Most people I grew up with are still stuck in dead-end jobs and many either have drug/alcohol problems or have criminal records.
The Marine Corps changed all that for me. I enlisted out of high school and they totally changed my life. The Marines gave me the discipline and the positive attitude that has made me very successful in civilian life to the point where I now live in the "affluent" suburbs myself and am now in position to send my own children to college. I attribute my success solely to the Marine Corps. Since getting discharged in 1985, I have put myself through night school, moved into management where I continue to get promoted into areas of increased responsibility. All because I have obtained a reputation as a hard driver who will not quit until the job gets done. I have only had one "sick day" in the 18 years since my discharge and I refuse to accept failure. I am what I am today on account of the fact that the Marine Corps straightened me out during my early adulthood. They taught me to be successful. They taught me not to quit. They are the ones who forced me to pull my lazy ass out of bed every morning and get the job done - no matter what. They are the ones who taught me that nobody is ever going to hand anything out to me and that I must earn my success on my own. The Marine Corps turned me from pathetic teenager who sat around feeling sorry for himself into a confident self-starter who never looked back. Yes, I owe it all to them.
Jerks like Charlie Rangel have no idea what they are talking about. All they want to do is promote class warfare and engage in race-baiting. For those young adults who are stuck in crappy environments like I was, joining the military is probably the most important thing they ever do with their lives. It certainly was the case with me.
Sorry, but the author's theory just doesn't work. One cannot draw a straight line from lack of funds for college directly to the military. After all, there are many government loans available to virtually anyone who is able to get accepted to college.
However, for those who are unable to get accepted to college (for whatever reason, poor grades, low SAT's, disciplinary problems etc.), the military also provides a vehicle for them to prove their ability. Many schools will credit applicants for military service therby opening doors which were closed before.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.