[bourbon]

How many Southerners are in the United States armed forces today?

I believe the figure is ~40% of the total armed forces. That's significantly in excess of the % of the total population which Southerners represent.

What is truly shocking though is not necessarily Southern over-representation in the military but northern regional under-representation. The % of members of the military hailing from New England is unbelievably small.

[bourbon]

Population Representation in the Military Services.

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Excerpt:
Geographic Representation. During the last 15 years, the percentage of recruits from the Northeast and North Central regions has decreased with a corresponding increase in the percentage of recruits from the South and West regions. The geographic distribution of enlisted active accessions for FY 2000 shows that the South, and in particular the South Atlantic and West South Central Divisions of this region, continued to have the greatest representation. More than two-fifths of NPS accessions hailed from the South. In fact, this was the only region to be slightly overrepresented among enlisted accessions compared to its proportion of 18-24 year-olds. The representation ratio (percentage of accessions divided by percentage of 18-24 year-olds from the region) for NPS active accessions from the South was 1.2, compared to 0.8 for the Northeast and North Central and 1.0 for the West.

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A more detailed report on geographic representation in the U.S. Military.

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[Arioch7]

LOL! YOu are right on that one.

I am a New Englander that served in the military and I can tell you, I met about 3 people in the service that were from Massachusetts the entire time I was there.

I have to say that I loved living down south and I loved serving with Southerners. IMHO, they are some of the finest people around. Of course, I am being general. The Northeast tends to look down its nose at the south and I dislike this habit very much. Truth be told though, "Yankees" are not exactly showered with love in the south.

Since I hate Massachusetts more than many of them, it did not bother me very much.

The Northeast is basically filled with a bunch of whining, snobby jerks. I call Massachusetts the "Sissy State." These people need "Big Brother" to advise them on every facet of thier lives. Native folks of New Hampshire are some of the most Conservative people around and I love NH more then I love the South. Unfortunately, the "MAssholes" are ruining it for everyone.

Thus ends my rant. :D