Who Serves In the Military?

Not the poor, it turns out.

I have one friend in the Marines and he said the same thing from his experience...it was a myth that poor people with no options are the only one's serving in the military.

This myth is perpetrated by the Vietnam generation for whom it was somewhat true - since there was a draft and many elites used college and the ability to move to Canada, etc, to avoid a super unpopular war.

Since that time, the US military has dropped the draft and has fewer number of troops (technology!). The fact is: many poor, disadvantaged people are simply unqualified for military service. Would you want the people working at McDonalds drive-through handling an M-16? No thanks! Anyhow, the study - or at least the conclusions are probably worth reading, if you talk or think about this stuff.