Military Recruiting Stereotypes Unfounded

To the editors:



A recent op-ed by Samuel M. Simon that cites my research (“Who Really Serves?,” column, Jan. 19) was brought to my attention, and I wanted to express my thanks for your interest. I agree with pretty much all of Simon’s analysis, so was a bit surprised when he also wrote that my Heritage Foundation study has “some serious flaws.”

One of the things Simon might have meant is that the paper’s recruit data are from 1999 and 2003, which I agree is not exactly current. It was the most current data we could get from the Pentagon when the study was initiated. But this would be an odd complaint for Simon to make, since he only cites median income data on the 1999 cohort, and neglects to mention that by 2003 average real family incomes of recruits had risen by $1,700, above the national median rather than below. The stunning finding in my mind is not the canard that soldiers are poor, which Simon rightly skewers, but that the military is attracting wealthier enlistees after 9/11 than before.



TIMOTHY J. KANE

Washington, D.C.



January 20, 2006



The writer is the Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy at the Heritage Foundation.