

If the strain of two wars wasn't enough, U.S. soldiers also face the unfair burdens of stereotyping: They're dumb; they're brutes; they're broke; they're joining up because they have no other career options. But a new demographic study of who's joining the Army demonstrates that the reality is entirely the opposite.

The National Priorities Project, a lefty research organization in Massachusetts, crunched the numbers for enlistment in fiscal 2009. Its findings show an Army that's smarter and more upwardly mobile than it often gets credit for being. Yes, in order to meet the strain of recruiting during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the military as a whole lowered standards in the mid-2000s. But the National Priorities Project indicates that the Army, at least, may have turned a corner – and this is a group of people that knows it's going to war.

For one thing, the percentage of recruits with at least a high school diploma has been on the rise. It jumped to 84.9 percent in fiscal 2009 compared to 70.7 percent in fiscal 2007. It's not quite the Defense Department's goal of 90 percent, but it's trending in that direction.

Recruits also passed their military-capability exams, known as the Armed Forces Qualification Test, in greater numbers. In 2009, 66 percent scored at or above average, while 62 percent did the previous year. Only 1.5 percent in 2009 were allowed to proceed despite scoring below average, a drop from the 3.5 percent in 2008.

What about disciplinary behavior? Recruits granted waivers to join up despite criminal offenses dropped to 5,428 in fiscal 2009 from 8,029 the previous year. Only 324 waivers for alcohol or drug consumption were granted in 2009 – a big drop from the 1,154 in 2008. Medical waivers dipped slightly from 5,434 to 5,020. And this is ﻿out of a pool of 70,045 recruits in 2009.

Perhaps more surprising is that none of these positive trends are explained by more people joining up due to the economy. The study "did not find that the recession and its high rates of unemployment led to more Army recruits of higher quality." Indeed, youth from the lowest 20 percent of U.S. income brackets are "under-represented among new Army recruits, more so in 2009 than in previous years." Indeed, middle-class youth "are over-represented among 2009 Army recruits" – and the service even showed a "slight upwards shift" of rich kids joining up.

It's true that the South, and especially the rural south, is still over-represented in the Army, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently noted. But if that's a problem, it's the most serious and persistent one the National Priorities Project found. In all other categories, the Army shows that it's just getting better.

Photo: U.S. Army

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