Data Point - who serves in the military? - Granite Grok

Data Point – who serves in the military?

2007 data from the Defense Department:

  • 11% of enlisted military recruits in 2007 came from the poorest quintile.
  • 25% came from the wealthiest quintile.
  • 40% in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program come from the wealthiest neighborhoods.

"low-income families are underrepresented in the military; high-income families are overrepresented:

  • Bottom household income quintile make up 20.0% of Americans who are age 18-24 years old
    • 10.6% of the 2006 recruits
    • 10.7% of the 2007 recruits.
  • Top two quintiles make up 40.0% of the population
    • 49.3% of the recruits in both years."

Data from Army 2010:

  • Blacks comprise 17% of Americans ages 18-39 with high school degrees
  • proportion of enlisted soldiers, at 21%.
  • 58% of Americans 18-39 years old are white
  • proportion of enlisted soldiers, at 64%

     Army officers:

  • 74% of 25-54 year-olds with bachelor’s degrees are white
    • 72% of Army officers are white.
  • 8% of 25-54 year-olds with B.A.s are black
    • 13% of Army officers are.
  • 60% of 18-24 year-olds with a high school degree are white
    • 64% of enlistees are white
  • 17% of 18-24 year-olds with a high school degree are black,
    • 19% of enlistees are are black.
  • 21% in the 18-39 year old population with a high school degree are Hispanic.
    • 12% of Army enlisted personnel are Hispanic

"This detachment is the result of a withdrawal of our urban elites from military service. And it suits the interests of many members of the urban elite to believe that the military they do not join is composed of poor, uneducated victims of an unfair society.

The hidden assumption in this myth is that an institution that is heavily black is an inferior institution. The myth of the ghetto Army is as nastily racist as it is false."

(H/T: Wall Street Journal)

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