Why don't white middle class kids enlist?

LeAnne

"Why don't white middle class kids enlist?"

I did. No regrets here.

hot mama

just wanted to say that I did enlist in the air force and I'm white and middle class. I believe that anyone can join if it is really what they want to do. It definitely builds character and discipline.

Flynn380

Because of your racist attitude?

I am a white middle-class person, I enlisted. No regrets here...

Bluefast

Same reason non-white middle class kids don't normally enlist. Do you really have to make it a race thing?

pawt72

My husband did.

Jack

White middle class kids do enlist. Your view of the world is limited. Most people rarely see farther than 500 miles away from home. I personally only rarely travel farther than 50 miles from home. I knew a fellow who finally traveled 30 miles from home to a hospital. He never made it back home.
I think you should look farther than your own back yard for the answer.

cruisingyeti

I think you mean "white upper middle class" as in the children of college educated parents vesrus "white middle class" the children of white tradesmen, nurse, farmers, ranchers, factory workers"

Who are the "backbone" of the US Army; small town America.

these are the men and women dying in Afghan and Iraq.

But I see what you are asking: no, white folks with college educated parents, who can go to college with no difficulty do not join as much. That is who you are talking about not "middle class" per se.

I am retired Army, live near Fort Carson in Rural Colorado: farm & ranch country: we have lost so many here, so many,

To carify in rural Colorado bith parents can be a college grad: but if Mon teaches school and dad works as a policeman or whatever: they are middle class" as the wages are such they cannot pay for college for the kids.

Hope folks look carefully at what you asked: it is a good question.

But the Army's "backbone" is still rural 'white" America as to numbers: but all serve.

then you have to factor in all the Upper middle class that: go to ROTC, OCS, and such and do not visit a recruiter's office. As in my case.

Such a hard question to answer: sensitive issues, etc.

krystal

excuse me but white middle class kids DO enlist. if you were actually in the army you would see that the majority of the army is WHITE. maybe its just where you live because where i live the recruiters hang out in big malls, they actually have offices in them. maybe the recruiters where you live are seeking out the people who dont have the same opportunities as wealthy people, the people who probably wouldnt go to college if they didnt join the army.

J D

im middle class and white and i may join up, its a more of a matter on how much kids want to go to college

michael f

My family is white and middle class. My father and brother joined and I am about to enlist.

Tina

She's not being racist - she's just saying what she sees. She's made no judgments based on race here - just that in her area, the city that is predominantly white and also middle class doesn't have a recruiting station.

Military is seen as a future and a career, and for many, a lifestyle. If your family is reasonably well-off, then you have other options that don't involve possibly being killed in other countries that would be more lucrative than a position in the military. The students with exceptional grades are the ones who enter West Point, that don't need to be recruited. The military is a way out of a community that may not seem to have any other options - you don't need a stellar academic record or connections or family money. It's a guranteed job with some ways of moving up in the system - a way to escape the problems of one's hometown, if there are any. And there's some sense of pride here - people are given the chance to learn new skills and defend what they believe needs to be defended or protected. You don't get that sort of thing at McDonalds.

Wookie

I was a middle class kiid when I enlisted. I had 3-1/2 yrs of college but gave it up to enlist. Most of the enlisted I have had the honor of serving with have also been middle class.

Tell me this, why do liberals have such a problem with the poor bettering themselves by going into military service? They complain about the proportions not being equal. Well, the military just goes to show that ANYONE can be a success if they set their mind to it. Maybe it's the fact that they see a welfare check going out the window.

Mike J

Maybe because Middle Class kids have other options, like college, etc.

Yak Rider

Actually, the "white middle class" is over represented in the military. The "urban lower class" is under represented.

The subject has been analyzed in depth.....

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda06-09.cfm

Who Are the Recruits? The Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Military Enlistment, 2003â€“2005
by Tim Kane, Ph.D.
Center for Data Analysis Report #06-09

The Marine

Yours is a simple question to answer. "Money" Having money affords this group of people opportunities unavailable to those in society of lesser financial position. Let's face it if you had a choice to make, going to war to protect everything that's right with America, or going to Harvard to eventually increase your wealth, and social standing which would you prefer. I'm not saying the wealthy shouldn't have to serve, but being wealthy can, and does help to prevent, or limit such service.

afkl;djkf;akljsdf

well,

I'm joining the Air Force after I graduate high school in May. I'm white, female, and middle class. I'm looking for a great opportunity to serve my country.

DOOM

They do. I did because I got tired of living off my parents.

MC Hummer

You're asking about the wrong people. Go talk to the Yellow Elephants who are too chickenshi+ to enlist and fight. Judging by your words, you sound like one.

Anyone who wants a war should sign up or shut up.

.

Speedfreak

Just like the police and firemen, it seems that recruiting in minority neighborhoods is more aggressive because those groups do not tend to apply/enlist without being heavily courted. As you must know, recruiting stations are not the only means by which to enlist.

By chance, have you noticed the race of most of the seriously wounded from Iraq?

tcbcyg

I am white and in the middle class, and a kid. I enlisted.

You seem to be exhibiting key indicators of confirmation bias. Look it up.

Katey

Are you kidding? Tons of my friends have enlisted and are white, and middle class. My friend Perry is going into the Air Force, Kirk to the Army, Joe to the Army, Steve in the Navy..and tons more

34andlivingwithmomanddad

I have been kicked out of those nice malls while recruiting in uniform. Mall security uses the "no soliciting" excuse to run off recruiters and the locals support them because most don't want recruiters harassing their precious children anyway. I have also been run off college campuses by security for talking to kids there. The police backs up security and they will politely ask you to leave once, after that they can arrest you and your chain of command probably won't help you get out of the mess you're in. Most of the high schools I worked at were run by administrations that viewed recruiters as a threat to their numbers, ie. making their percentages of graduates going to college go down. You have to work with the school officials because if you are banned from the school you might get hooked up with a General Letter of Reprimand, or worse.

Now to answer your question why don't white middle class kids enlist. You are implying that an obsolete myth still holds true, that only poor minorities go in the military. I enlisted a long time ago and at first I noticed almost everyone around me was also white and middle class, even as an 11B infantryman. But once you are in, you are all equal, and all Army green!

Abby K9

I can understand where you're coming from, but I'm not sure you're correct.

Recruiters are sent out to "prospect" to different areas - they don't go to the same place everyday. Maybe you've just never run into a recruiter at the "nice" mall - only at the dollar store and the laundromat?

Where I live, we have a very nice mall (Potomac Mills) and there's a big recruiting station right inside that mall. There's a smaller station across the street from it in one of the smaller malls, next to a music store and a nurses' college.

The recruiters here go into all of the malls and neighborhoods to put up fliers and hand out cards - it's part of their job to do that, and to go different places instead of going to the same place(es) everyday.

Also, you might notice that the poor minorities that you see walking into your local recruiting office don't comprise the majority of our military. Hispanics make up 9% of the military, African Americans 17%.

The majority of our armed forces is made up of white people - and they have to come from somewhere. They're not all poor rednecks from West Virginia who have "no other options".

I think the biggest problem with middle class white youth is that they have a strong sense of entitlement - in other words, they are less willing to work for a career. They feel that their parents should be paying to send them to college, and that once they graduate college, there will be lots of jobs lined up for them immediately. They feel they are "too good" to get their hands dirty or join the military because they don't want to put up with "people yelling at them" and the like.

At least that's what a lot of the kids in my area (Northern Virginia) are like. Their parents are the same way ... "My kid is too good for the military. Let those with no options join."

im_the_online_jesus_fukers

I am white, upper middle class and I enlisted in the Marines at 17 and have been serving my country for over 8 years and will continue to do so until I am forced to. I am in the national guard and most of my unit is middle class or above.

Im a white middle classed kid and Im in the DEP, Im in High School

Sronce

I am the epitome of middle lass and I don't regret one minute

Amy S

I live in a very wealthy community... mid-price of homes is well over $450,000... We have a recruiting station. My son enlisted there.

Sounds like this is unique to your community.

Kristi G

First of all IF the recruiting centers where at the mall next to Abercrombie, you'd be on here screaming about how much the military is spending in rent to have the station there! Rent is cheaper at the strip shopping centers next to the Dollar Store!

Secondly, in the 10 years I was in the military and then the 5 years married to a soldier, most, and I'd say 75% of my friends & fellow soldiers were from middle class, white families! I personally came from an upper middle class, white background!

2 years

i dont know why, i am a white middle class kid, i plan on enlisting, and everyone at my school tells me what a stupid decision it is. i think it is such a shame that they think so, they think enlisting is beneath them, and it pisses me off. i think they are just afraid to get they're hands dirty and work

Cotton

I did and proud I did, by the way I am white and raised upper middle class. Why do a lot of lower income people or minorities join up. Maybe, they want money for college or training at a good technical school. Maybe, they want a direction in life away from the life that they see where they are at. Who knows? What difference does it make? If someone wants to serve their country, it is their choice. Nobody is dragged screaming into that office.

I thank God that they do go in and volunteer. I would much rather share a fox hole with someone that volunteered to be there than some rich kid that got drafted and doesn't care whether or not his buddy makes it home. If it wasn't for those volunteers, your so called rich, upper middle class, white kids would be getting drafted because a draft would be reinstated to keep our fighting forces manned up.

Sure the recruiters are out there looking for people. It is their job. They get poor evaluations if they don't reach their monthly/quarterly quotas. If I had their job I would be going wherever my training tells me to go. Most of your rich, middle class whites, are going to be going to college on daddy's dime or living at home leeching of the parents until daddy decides to put them out. Others don't have that privilege.

So, now that I have voiced my opinion, the next time you see that young man or woman walking out of the recruiting office, instead of asking why, why don't you walk over there, shake their hand and say THANK YOU! They will be the people standing up for your country, not that rich kid down the street.

firefighter7805

I enlisted. My dad makes 6 figures. Look at the demographics of the military and you will find that it is proportional to the demographic of the country. With the predominant member being white males. So you should probably think and do a little research before making a judgement like that.

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