Re: [Marxism] Class status of the military?

["Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>


> My strong suspicions is that she is fairly typical, at least of Blacks and
> Latinos.

And poor whites too.

Of course, rudimentary patriotism, and sometimes even straight-up sociopathy
also play a role (crime is similar in the military to the levels of say,
NYC).

I say without reserve that the armed forces in the USA in general have the
brightest, more wanderlusty (sp?), working class youth around. In terms of
people of color, they tend to be immigrants seeking citizenship, kids who
want to go to college but come from very bad schools and think the armed
forces will give them discipline (and get scholarship money to boot), and
kids who don't want to be drug dealers, cops, or work in a minimum wage
service job, which are usually their only options. (I can't help but have
admiration at people who don't want to be drug dealers, cops and
McEmployees.)

In terms of whites, they tend to be of the same type, but with a
modification: urban whites in general don't feel attracted to military
service, as they usually have other options. It is the small town kids, who
have never seen a beach, and want to "travel the world", leaving potentially
abusing situations at home to never comeback, etc etc etc.

In any case, while people of color are disproportionately targeted for
recruitment, the majority of the armed forces remains white and the
disproportion is nowhere near that of the draft days (I don't seek to
minimize the significance of the disproportion, as whites are about 75% of
the population and only about 60% of the military, and when dealing with
millions, 15% is a significant amount, but this is diferent than in the
vietnam days, when in the Army at one point white enlistedmen where the
minority). What they have in common is class, not race.

Population Representation in the Armed Forces (2002) [the latest I could
find]
Chapter 2, Race:
http://www.dod.mil/prhome/poprep2002/chapter2/c2_raceth.htm

http://tinyurl.com/8lw8j

2000 Census breakdown on race:
<http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_lang=en&-redoLog=true&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P009&-format=&-CONTEXT=dt>

http://tinyurl.com/asuf5


Of course, this refers to the enlisted corps. In the officiers corps, things
are still defined by race, and people like Colin Powell are exceptions, not
rules, and an exception that proves the rule at that.

sks


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