Interesting Demographic Study of Future Vets By Heritage Foundation

I will be the first to admit that I have not extensively studied the data model used, but it would appear that our modern all-volunteer armed service has the face of a white male, high school graduate from roughly a middle class background.

Remember the argument I had with an old forum member regarding this issue? service people aren't the dumb, illiterate poor people that he thinks they are. What is even more enlightening is more service members are college bound than high school grads. I found another survey awile back that a big number came from white $100,000 a year families.

The info you're looking for should be found in the cited literature.



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[1]Charles B. Rangel, op-ed, “Bring Back the Draft,” The New York Times, December 31, 2002, p. A19.

[2]See, for example, Bob Herbert, “Blood Runs Red, Not Blue,” The New York Times, August 18, 2005, p. A25.

[3]PollingReport.com, “Foreign Affairs and Defense Issues,” at www.pollingreport.com/defense.htm#Military (September 7, 2005).

[4]In this report, the term “neighborhoods” is used interchangeably with “ZCTA.”

[5]U.S. Bureau of the Census, United States Census 2000, Summary File 3, at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/ sumfile3.html (July 6, 2005). Alternative data from the Current Population Survey indicate that 79 percent of citizens ages 18–24 have achieved a level of education of a high school equivalent diploma or higher.

[6]See Lewis W. Diuguid, “Pushy Recruiters Descend on High Schools,” The Kansas City Star, January 29, 2003, p. B7.

[7]Sean D. Hammil, “Small Towns Pay Big Price in Fighting Nation’s Wars,” Chicago Tribune, April 27, 2005, p. 6.

[8]The Census Bureau classifies each ZCTA into population residing in urban areas, urban clusters, and rural areas. The for*mula we used defines rural concentration as the population residing in rural areas divided by the total population for that ZCTA. Areas that are entirely urban, such as Representative Rangel’s ZCTA 10037, have a rural concentration of 0.0000. Completely rural areas have a concentration of 1.0000. ZCTAs with zero population were excluded from this analysis.

[9]U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, “Executive Summary of the 2003 Population Representation in the Military Services Population Representation,” at www.defenselink.mil/prhome/ poprep2003 (September 7, 2005). The fiscal year for U.S. military services runs from October through September. The dataset for 2003 used in this analysis includes the 138,914 applicants accepted between January 2003 and September 2003.

[10]For more information on ZCTAs, see U.S. Bureau of the Census, “ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs),” July 8, 2005, at www.census.gov/geo/ZCTA/zcta.html (October 18, 2005).

[11]U.S. Bureau of the Census, United States Census 2000, Summary File 1, at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/ sumfile1.html (July 6, 2005), and Summary File 3, at www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/sumfile3.html (July 6, 2005).

[12]U.S. Bureau of the Census, Cartographic Boundary Files, revised June 27, 2005, at www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/ z32000.html (October 18, 2005).

If I rember correctly wasn't it during the last presidential election that Kerry was using the bugaboo of "having to bring back the draft" whilst C. Rangel was merrily bringing the legislation before Congress? I have several choice descriptives for Rep. Rangel.

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone