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.
- 64% of journalists came from only 3 states (NY, NJ, Penn)
- 2/3 of journalists came from families that were in the top 10% of the financial bracket (translation: rich kids)
- over 84% of journalists admitted to seldom or never attending church
Yeah, black volunteers might get conservative as the gain rank and move into the middle class.
The might even, Gasp start voting Republican.
SO9
The hyphen, Webster's Dictionary defines... Is a symbol used to divide a compound word or a single word. So it seems to me that when a man calls himself... An "Afro-American," a "Mexican-American," "Italian- American," an "Irish-American," "Jewish-American," What he's sayin' is... "I'm a divided American." Well, we all came from other places, Different creeds and different races, To form a nation...to become as one. Yet, look at the harm a line has done. A simple little line and yet, As divisive as a line can get. A crooked cross the Nazis flew, And the Russian hammer and sickle too. Time bombs...in the lives of man. But, none of these could ever fan The flames of hatred...faster than... The Hyphen. The Russian hammer built a wall That locks men's hearts from freedom's call. A crooked cross flew overhead Above twenty million tragic dead. Among them men from this great nation, Who died for freedom's preservation. A hyphen is a line that's small; It can be a bridge or be a wall. A bridge can save you lots of time, A wall you always have to climb. The road to liberty lies true, The hyphen's use is up to you. Used as a bridge, it can span All the differences of man. Being free in mind and soul Should be our most important goal. If you use the hyphen as a wall, You'll make your life mean...and small. An American is a special breed, Whose people came to her in need. They came to her that they might find A world where they'd have peace of mind, Where men are equal...and something more... Stand taller than they stood before. So you be wise in your decision, And that little line won't cause division. Let's join hands with one another... For in this land, each man's your brother. United we stand...divided we fall... We're Americans...and that says it all.
I tell my kids that when anyone asks them their ethnic background to answer "American!"
As for demographic averages, the average human in the US has 1 breast capable of lactation, 1 testicle, 1 ovary,.....and maybe half a spine.
One place of many in a google search .
The same could be said for youngsters working in fast food restaurants.
That said he is demeaning all soldiers that are making that same contribution. He is trying to turn African-American deaths into George Bush lynchings.
YES! They DO! They're ALL AMERICAN'S, YOU STUPID PEOPLE!
"They seem to more represent Russian society."
More particularly, mainstream journalists seem representative of Soviet cadres.
Could it be they don't have any...???
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