[Homestead] How NOT to judge

Lynda lurine at softcom.net
Fri May 2 12:05:57 EDT 2008


The DOD doesn't track income of recruits or their parents, so there is no 
way to say one way or another what the income levels are.  The folks who 
like to do stats have done that in a way that has absolutely no correlation 
to reality.  They use the Zip Code of the recruit.  Well, that tells us 
squat about the individual.

Plus, the *vast* majority of the U.S. population is white.  Saying the 
*vast* majority of the military is white means nothing.  You have to look at 
ratio to population.  If you do that, then you come up with more of certain 
minorities in relationship to the overall population.  Using the more 
realistic ratio formula, blacks are over-represented at a 1.32 ratio and 
whites are under represented at .97.

However, the ethnic group who has the largest % in the military are American 
Indians!

Of course, one can have all kinds of fun with numbers.  Hawaii has the 
largest % of their population between the ages of 16-64 in the military 
(5%), California has the largest number in the military, there's a slightly 
higher than 1:10 ratio of black to white veterans, 13% of the population are 
veterans, 6% of the veterans are women and 37% of the veterans are over 64.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <DSanner106 at aol.com>


> This is a major falsehood. The vast majority of soldiers in the military
> today are white, middle class
> young men. Education levels have never been higher. I know at least 10 
> young
> men and women who have joined in the past 4 years, my nephew enters the 
> navy
> in 29 days, and a young man we had temporary custody of  (named TJ by
> chance) and helped raise goes into the army on July 29. They both made 
> well  thought
> out decisions and do feel like they are serving their country and taking 
> a
> path that is right for them.
>
> This bit about the south having the lowest per capita income is just a bad
> use of statistics. If you
> don't incorporate cost of living and standard of living you are comparing
> apples to kumquats. I read yesterday
> that 2 percent of teachers and 4 percent of nurses in northern california,
> specifically around San Francisco can afford to own a home rather than 
> rent. In
> the south, the numbers are very close to 100 percent. This tells me a lot
> more  than just basic per capita income all by itself. If you were to ask 
> me
> where the  people are poorer, I would point out many areas before the 
> south.
>
> Drew
>
>
> In a message dated 5/2/2008 2:13:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> lurine at softcom.net writes:
>
> Enlistment percentages may be mostly an indication of  family
>>>> financial status, boys and girls who find no better  choice.
>>>
>>> I don't think of
>>>> military  enlistment today as an expression of patriotism or as
>>>>  indicating feelings toward military enterprises or wars in  general.
>>>
>>
>>> I
>>>> believe that the  lowest per capita incomes are in the  South.
>
>
>
>
>
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