JROTC Gone From San Fran Schools

Z is on the money with that last post. I have a friend from South Africa who moved to the US 6 years ago. They have two sons. Neither son is a US citizen. The older has been a marine for the last five years & has served in Iraq on several tours. The younger son is now just in the Army. Their Dad told them that they would, no choice, serve as they needed to pay back this country for providing them a safe refuge. He is soooo proud of those boys. When I listen to his reasoning for this, I astound myself at how much I take our freedoms for granted. Makes me feel so small compared to what they went through to get here. Shortly after they moved here, I suggested that they have the kid walk to school. Heck, it was only four blocks. His face went white. They had to patrol their land with shotguns & never dreamed about having a kid walk to school. They go kinda overboard with the Xmas lights and I was laughing at their HUGE blow up snowman, glowing & bouncing in the wind. The guy looks at me & says, "We've never been able to put up lights. They would steal them the very night we put them out." WHACK! Right to my gut. I felt so badly. Couldn't make fun of those dancing reindeer after that! Ok. I'm done with my little story. I can blow can't I? But boy am I glad that our young folks have chosen to watch the wall so I can sleep in peace tonight. God bless them everyone.
 
USNA69 said:
The one problem I have with an all-volunteer force is that it is almost solidly manned by the lower middle class. The upper class who have the money to run for leadership positions in our country are growing further and further from the "real" world of understanding the sacrifices that our troops are making and making decisions based on this knowledge. I regret this.

I think this is a common misconception. Don't mean to get too offtrack on this thread but mean hosehold income for recruits in 1999 was 41,141 (in 2000 dollars) compared with the general population median of 41,994. 2003 recruits had an avg income of 42,822. 98% of recruits have a high school education or higher compared to 75% in the population. Based on 2003 data, whites are proportionally represented in the military although Blacks and native Americans are overrepresented and Asians and other minorites are underrepresented. Urban areas have 39% of the population and have about 30% representation in the military. I added the minority stats because usually right after people claim the military is underrepresented from an income perspective, the follow it up with a race comment. Charlie Wrangle is an example.
 
AFDAD2010 said:
I think this is a common misconception. Don't mean to get too offtrack on this thread but mean hosehold income for recruits in 1999 was 41,141 (in 2000 dollars) compared with the general population median of 41,994. 2003 recruits had an avg income of 42,822. 98% of recruits have a high school education or higher compared to 75% in the population.
Even though the definiton of middle class is vague, most economists along with census support define it as households with income between $25,000 and $100,000. Therefore, it appears to me that household income for recruits are in the lower half. A common misconception might be that the center of the middle class is the nations mean income. Not true.
 
Wow. I'm above the middle class?

Coulda' fooled me. Sure doesn't feel that way. :frown:
 
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