I understood that when I read his post, but no one is forcing those in disadvantaged circumstances to join. In fact, it is a great way for those who join to pull themselves out of the lower classes by learning a skill, getting the ability to go to college, something many couldn't afford, otherwise. I'll add that if you look at the economic background of the officers, you might be surprised. In any event, the current system is a vast improvement over the draft. If a former President hadn't sent our people into a needless war, the result today would have been a much stronger military, with much less stress on our people and their families. I would also argue that had "we" not invaded and occupied Iraq, needlessly, Iran wouldn't have dared to move forward with their atomic weapons program. That's my opinion. Thank you, Mister Shrub.
The army is overwhelmingly made of white people coming from middle class backgrounds. They weigh heavily towards rural and from the South or West. There aren't a whole lot of super-rich enlisted soldiers, but by virtue of the exclusiveness of the category, there aren't that many super-rich people in the country. Education level of enlisted recruits is above the national average. The percentage of high school dropouts is below national average, and they reject the majority of dropouts who apply. The idea that the military is made up of minorities on welfare who have been driven to resort to enlisting by virtue of no other options simply isn't true.
so you make a false inference, and then characterize it as bizarre? Bizarre. and for the record, i'm not sure "the cable" is any more authoritative than breitbart, or some anonymous pakistani official. they have a sterling track record.
and at the nation: This is not the first time in recent months rumors of Omar's capture have surfaced (see here). I wouldn't even be bothering to look into this now if I had not heard some parallel buzz about these rumors from military sources I actually trust. No one is confirming anything at all, but I am told there are some pretty unenthusiastic denials making their way through the special forces world.
^ Nice info. One caveat, however, which became apparent after the NYT did their "Teabaggers richer, on average" survey, that somebody over on another website pointed out. The problem is that, like the teabaggers, a lot of recruits come from two-parent households with the parents in the 40's and 50's, generally when your annual income is at its peak - which skews the mean and the median a different way. So, instead of being richer, as the NYT predicted, the teabaggers were basically the standard white working/middle class, and in fact relative to their age group peers outside the teabaggers southern/suburban/exurban base, were probably not doing quite as well on a median/mean basis. Now, a lot of recruits probably come from single parent homes so the effect isn't quite as pronounced in these surveys.
I'm still surprised that the media is surpressing this mega-story. Probably a conspiracy to embarrass brightfart.
And the trail of the story of the century continues to be cold. I bet ol' breitbart wishes he had pursued this instead of last week's mislynching.
