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Seconding this: even in the 90s, the central California high school I went to had most of the top students looking at the military if they didn’t love FFA – the
by acdha 2y ago
Seconding this: even in the 90s, the central California high school I went to had most of the top students looking at the military if they didn’t love FFA – the costs were already high enough thanks to Reagan’s cuts that they couldn’t afford tuition at the state schools without significant loans, weren’t from families where taking on that kind of debt was something you did, and the military benefits looked great in an era where you were unlikely to deploy at all or if you did it’d be something like peacekeeping in Bosnia. One of the guys I was in a few classes with ended up deploying into Afghanistan early on. I didn’t see his name in the news after that so I hope he’s okay.
- Kon-Peki 2y agoI grew up in a very blue collar rust belt type of area, and if you were a smart kid that showed an interest in the military, the school guidance staff would try to keep you away from the standard military recruiters and point you towards ROTC while studying engineering at State U. A person taking that route would never have been assigned to Hopper’s team. And again, the wealthy area where I live now, if you are a bright kid that shows an interest in the military they are going to try to get you to do ROTC at the top engineering school possible, or setting up interviews with the Congressman or Senator to try to get a nomination into one of the academies. So by percentages, the best enlisted men and women are likely to be from more rural areas.