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Enlistment is directly related to educational availability as your statement about the lack of enlistees is low in New England indicates. That is why, because levels of education are higher there. Though I would imagine that the enlistment ratios in Maine are higher than Mass. Thus, those lines on the graph are proxies for education levels in the regions.

Again I would imagine that the ratios of enlisted to non-enlisting per state would show strong correlation to educational levels in them. Not totally no doubt but high. I would have to see what was said about it in the report you reference. I doubt that any regression analysis was done to determine the influence of factors on the enlistment rates but don't doubt that you would also find stong correlations between new enlistments and fathers serving in the past as well as between new enlistments and income levels per state.

Southerners have always been a disproportionate percent of the armed forces. Its culture was strongly pro-military even around the time of the Slavers' Revolt. That was a primary reason the revolt was not put down sooner since the Union had to recruit a whole new officer corps after the Southerners left the army.

Thanks for posting those interesting graphs.

Thanks for posting those interesting graphs.

You are most welcome.

I think we differ very little on the main thrust of this data, but I suppose our differences merit a bit more discussion.

The only statement of yours with which I disagree is that there is some sort of provable, direct correlation between statewide educational levels and military recruitment. The DoD study (at least the portions I cited in post #178) specifically rejects this notion--"no one factor can explain variations in enlistment rates between different sections of the country; they are more likely attributable to a wide array of economic, social, and demographic factors." If you draw a different conclusion from the information I posted, it would appear to be based on assumptions made at variance with the DoD study.

Now, I agree with you that there might be some possible correlation lurking out there involving educational levels and military recruitment, but this study does not seem to provide evidence for that proposition. Furthermore, as a matter of speculation, I doubt whether this variable's influence on recruitment can be separated easily from other factors which weigh on the decision to enlist.

Lastly, I should point out this statement of yours:

Southerners have always been a disproportionate percent of the armed forces. Its culture was strongly pro-military even around the time of the Slavers' Revolt.

Now, I must admit, this I don't understand. "Culture" explains historical levels of Southern over-representation in the military, but present-day levels are clearly attributable to disparities in statewide education availability?