After seeing the video Stan linked to in the previous post Do you support the troops?, Jim Craven sent us something he wrote in 2004. Its his Comments on Fahrenheit 9-11 and Veterans in Film. Here’s a bit.
First of all, I have read some of the literature–from the services themselves–on the backgrounds of recruits (active duty, versus Reserves/Guard) and some of their own stated reasons for going in.
On active duty, the poorest of the poor, the ones who may “THINK” there is no way out of poverty except through the military, are found generally in the MOS categories having to do with combat arms–particularly at the “grunt” level. They can also be found as cooks, logistics, truck drivers, etc.
Actually, these days, with the squeeze on the middle class, and many young people unable to qualify for certain financial assistance because their parents make too much (even though they may not be living with their parents) many of the new recruits are not from strictly working class–or at least ultra-poor working class–or lumpenproletariat as was once the case. Many are from families hardly on the verge of starvation and outright poverty but are willing to get a hand through college doing what was once thought to be realtively “safe” duty;
Posted by BrianR in Analysis