It is simply another addition to classism within the US military. The Enlisted ranks of our branches in the military, particularily amongst junior ranks, represent minorities and poor whites far above then what is reflected in total US population. Without affirmative action and racial quotas, you'd find the Officer ranks very white, and often of middle to upper class backgrounds.
Young people are joining the military not for the sake of fighting for flag and country, but because of the educational benefits, sign-up bonuses, and vocational training.....in essence, preparing for the real world. Recruiting standards as of late have fallen quite dramatically. EVen with the leniancy of recruiting, you'd be very surprised as to how many recruits who are genuinely interested in a military career do not qualify due to criminal records, bodyfat %, drugs, grades, etc......it isn't pretty, and I saw a LOT of it in the Miami-Dade recruiting district. College is becoming almost prohibitively expensive, some young people have the foresight of not wanting to sink into debt over school loans, and decent jobs, particularily of manufactoring and industrial, are nowhere to be found above 8 bucks an hour directly out of high school.
Hell, even having a Bachelors or Masters only guarantees an assload of debt and not a great job, or even to possess a job.
I do believe that the number of non-citizens serving in the US military should be drastically reduced, and for those that do serve and get Honorable Discharges, should be granted permanent US citizenship. I believe it is very troubling and problematic that the face of the US military is far out of proportion of what is representative of the peoples of the United States. Perhaps the military's desperation to lure recruits might not be so desperate if our leaders were able to make sound decisions pertaining to foreign policy.
