According to one Heritage Foundation study[1], US military enlistees tend to come disproportionately from middle class backgrounds. They found that only 11% of

According to one Heritage Foundation study[1], US military enlistees tend to come disproportionately from middle class backgrounds. They found that only 11% of enlisted recruits came from the poorest quintile of neighbourhoods in the US. While the Heritage Foundation is not an entirely neutral institution, its methodology in this study seems fairly sound. And its findings don't support the popular belief that American soldiers are disproportionately poor and ill-educated and only joined because they had no alternatives. Anecdotally, I've found this to be true for all of the American soldiers I have met and spoken to about their backgrounds and their reasons for enlisting. [1] - http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda08-05.cfm http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/cda08-05.c...