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An interesting article on class in the military. I got it wrong even though I was in the military. Check it outPosts: 278 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I mean that I thought that the average soldier was less intelligent and that recruits tended to come from lower classes.
Posts: 278 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I'm not that surprised. My brother-in-law served and he came from an upper middle class background. My grandfather enlisted from the same background. My father who is still in and about to reach the mandatory retirement age of 60 is also from an affluent background. Plus, all those people except my Dad have since gone on to higher education - my grandfather became an engineer, my brother-in-law holds a master's in computer science.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Hmm... The study he sites mentions enlistment since 2001. It's a little vague how much of what he sites is linked to figures past and related to that particular date, and how much refers to the military as a whole. I would expect enlistment post-9/11 to be up in all classes and races.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Thats never been true, that and the Infantry has something like the largest group of "highly intelligent" soldiers. The supposed idea is that those people are looking for the adventure, they are looking to be actual soldiers. At least thats how we see it.
That and many people join the army not because they themselves come from a poor family etc, but they get sucked into it because of the situation in their lives, not their financial situation. That and its not like another job or college, you can't just back out after you've put your foot in the door.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: May 2001
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Actually I was reading some interesting info that enlistments post-9/11 weren't so much of a big deal. I have to be honest that most soldiers I know didn't join the army because of some terrorist attack.
That and I can honestly tell you this out of my squad every single person in it, except one come from hard-up situations in life. Not so much their worth etc, they are simply people who fell on hard times. One lost his job at Sun, one had a horrendous family life and was going no where, one is from the bad side of Houston, one had a couple of DUIs while in college and couldn't get onto the police force like he wanted to with them on his record, One lost his bartender job and had no other place to go, etc. For the most part the Army has many above average persons in it, most true garbage is dealt with at an early stage. I like to think that a lot of soldiers are exceptional people who simply got dealt a couple of bad hands in life, even if they shuffeled the deck themselves.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: May 2001
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I talked to a recruiter (over a decade ago) but when he found out I had had a touch of possible cancer he closed his binders and said there is no way they would take me... I don't like to consider myself lower class exactly.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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