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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

You guys are killing me.  I am now spending over an hour every night
writing to you guys.  I've got to wean myself away.  I don't think I
wrote this much when I was home all the time!

Gene GeRue wrote:
> >
> Enlistment percentages may be mostly an indication of family
> financial status, boys and girls who find no better choice.

That is a myth.  It may have once been true, but not anymore.  The
military is very competitive as a "choice" these days-it is all
volunteer, remember?  TJ has been in for 3+ years now.  He just re-upped
and will get out in 2013.  I seriously doubt that he would be where he
is financially and otherwise after 3 years in college or 3 years in any
other workforce.  He has almost 80K saved, owns 3 vehicles, and will be
getting his nuclear engineering degree in a few years.  He's living in
Honolulu-been to Hong Kong, multiple places in Japan, Guam, and other
places that he can't talk about(excitement).  He turned 21 a few weeks
ago. He is not unusual.  The difference is that most kids just blow the
money and the opportunity.

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 am kind of shocked that you would write that, but anyway....
You may not think of enlistment as an expression of patriotism, but I
guarantee you that every person who signs up and stands up to take the
oath thinks of it as an expression of patriotism.  They know that they
are likely to serve in a war zone-regardless of branch (even the Coast
Guard has troops in the Middle East) It's certainly not something done
for status or money; it's done for the same reason people become police
officers and firemen.  It is about public safety and security.  No one
who enlists in any branch of the service wants a war or wants to kill,
but there always must be someone somewhere who is willing to lay down
their life for the freedoms(and yes, you still have them) you enjoy.  It
is for that benefit, that love of humanity, that our sons and daughters
bravely enlist.

I
> believe that the lowest per capita incomes are in the South.

I take it that you are implying that people enlist for the money because
they are poor Southerners... HA!
It may be true that incomes are lowest in the South, but that doesn't
mean much.  The areas with the lowest costs of living are probably in
the South, too.  Found a list made in 2005...here are the 15 lowest
income states:

Louisiana
Mississippi
Arkansas
West Virginia
New Mexico
Utah
Idaho
South Carolina
Kentucky
Alabama
Oklahoma
Montana
Arizona
North Carolina

6/15 are not Southern.

Here are the top 15:

Nevada
Illinois
Rhode Island
Wyoming
California
Delaware
Minnesota
Colorado
Virginia
New Hampshire
New York
Maryland
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Connecticut


I think VA is in there only because of DC, which has a pci higher than
any state in 2005.
No offense to those of you living in the above states, but I think I
would rather live in one of the bottom tier states than in the top tier.

Another thing you have to consider is that there aren't many unions in
the South that also keeps pay down.
Yet another thing you have to consider is that many senior citizens move
to the South to retire because it is warmer and cheaper.  They live off
the government, so you know they have a low pci.


> My curiosity was whether the apparently ongoing Southern feelings 
> about the Civil War would translate into a greater antipathy toward
>  war in general. Not sure how that might be measured. Where's our 
> resident sociologist?

Again, no. These kids have grown up with the military...tales of glory
and tales of despair...there is a sense of duty and pride in Southern
families that is passed down.  It is no better or no worse than other
forms of public service...In the northeast, Irish-Catholic kids with
that same state of mind become police and firemen...same thing...

Bev



--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky