Abstract
The present state of the American military is often misunderstood. That misunderstanding leads to incorrect conclusions about the politics and voting behavior of service personnel. Given the known relationship between voter demographics and voter behavior, it is essential that the armed services demographics, particularly the characteristics of enlisted personnel, be presented to show how they may be different from those of officers or the general American voting population. This chapter will establish the “ground truth” of the present state of American military demographics, particularly those of enlisted personnel, using official data from Department of Defense (DOD) sources and supported by other data sources.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
See Richard H. Kohn. 1974. “The All-Volunteer Army: Too High a Price?” Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institut. 100(3/853): 35–42;
Vincent Davis. 1974. “The Deterioration of Popular Willingness to Serve,” in New Civil-Military Relations: The Agonies of Adjustment to Post-Vietnam Realitie., ed. John P. Lovell and Philip S. Kronenberg. New Brunswick: Transaction Books;
Jerald G. Bachman, John D. Blair, and David R. Segal. 1977. The All-Volunteer Force: A Study in Military Ideology. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
David J. Armor and Curtis L. Gilroy. 2007. “Changing Minority Representation in the U.S. Military,” paper presented at Biennial Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, Chicago, October 26.
Christine O. Hardyman. 1988. Department of the Army Historical Summary, Fiscal Year 1982. Center of Military History, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army.
Tim Kane. 2005. “Who Bears the Burden? Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Military Recruits Before and After 9/11,” Center for Data Analysis Repor. No. CDA05–08, November 7. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation;
Tim Kane. 2006. “Who Are the Recruits? The Demographics of U.S. Military Enlistment, 2003–2005,” Center for Data Analysis Repor. No. CDA06–09, October 26. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation;
Shanea J. Watkins and James Sherk. 2008. “Who Serves in the U.S. Military? Demographic Characteristics of Enlisted Troops and Officers.” Center for Data Analysis Repor. No. CDA08-05, August 21. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation.
Tim Kane. 2005. “Who Bears the Burden?”; Tim Kane. 2006. “Who Are the Recruits?”
Also see Watkins and Sherk. 2008. “Who Serves in the U.S. Military?”
US Congressional Budget Office. 2007. “The All-Volunteer Military: Issues and Performance,”
National Center for Education Statistics. 2004. Digest of Education Statistics, 200. (NCES 2006-0005). Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
National Center for Education Statistics. 2005. The Condition of Education 2005, Indicator 20, Immediate Transition to Colleg. (NCES 2005–094). Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
US Census Bureau. 2005. United States Census 200.
Watkins and Sherk. 2008. “Who Serves in the U.S. Military?”
See Kane. 2005. “Who Bears the Burden?”
and Kane. 2006. “Who Are the Recruits?”
Constance M. Carroll. 2008. Chancellor’s Welcome.
Steven Ruggles, Matthew Sobek, Trent Alexander, Catherine A. Fitch, Ronald Goeken, Patricia Kelly Hall, Miriam King, and Chat Ronnander. 2008. “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 4.0,”
Michael McDonald. 2008. “2008 General Election Turnout Rates,” United States Elections Project. http://www.electproject.org/2008g. Accessed March 4, 2015.
See Ann Scott Tyson. 2006. “Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn to Military: Recruits’ Job Worries Outweigh War Fears,” The Washington Pos., p. A1, November 4;
Tom Bowman. 2006. “Army Accepting More Recruits with Criminal, Drug Histories,” Los Angeles Time., A14, February 14;
and Juan Gonzalez. 2005. “Racial Divide Evident in Military,” Daily New. (New York), p. 16, November 8.
Tom Bowman. 2005. “Lowered Standards Help Army Meet Recruit Goals.” Baltimore Su., A10, November 8.
Charles Rangel. 2006a. “Rangel Reintroduces Draft Bill.”
Copyright information
© 2016 Donald S. Inbody
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Inbody, D.S. (2016). American Military Demographics. In: The Soldier Vote. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137519207_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137519207_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57815-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51920-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)