The U.S. Military: Then and Now
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Another cat. Just enjoy it. The United States military has always been number one. Our unquestionable ability has caused a long and never ending debate: What is our role as a military force in the world? Of course I have my own theories, but that's here nor there. A look at the U.S. military is important in looking at politics because the military is made up mostly of young people.
U.S. Military: The 1980's
Following Jimmy Carter's Presidency, Ronald Reagan was elected in an overwhelming victory, with Reagan winning 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49. Reagan wanted to restore the U.S. as a national military powerhouse, but many Americans were wary of paying to maintain large armies. Regan's increased military spending (1.6 trillion over the next 5 years) saw the prominence of highly trained counter-insurgence troops that were fewer in number. The U.S. was met with defeat during this time period, suffering 241 casualties in a barracks bombing in Beirut. Only 48 hours later, the United States successfully invaded and defeated a communist regime at Grenada, a small island nation in the Caribbean. The invasion lasted only a matter of weeks, and resulted in the declaration of democracy in Grenada. The invasion was viewed negatively outside the U.S., even though communists forces captured 1,000 American students and their families. As a continuing trend, many soldiers were becoming younger and younger, with the average age being closer to 19-20 years old.
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U.S. Military: Modern Day
Following the decision in the 80's to build up our military strength, the U.S. continued to spend a butt-load (sorry, a little biased) of money on the military. As the Cold War ended, our national mission changed from defenders against communism to more of a world guardian role. The U.S. has had almost a continuous presence in the Middle East since the 90's. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. led a coalition into Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, a known harbor-er of AL-Qaeda, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks. American forces have also invaded Iraq, where they captured Saddam Hussein, the despotic leader of the country. In 2011 an American Navy S.E.A.L. team located and killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of AL-Qaeda who had claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Response to these developments has been met with mixed feelings. The U.S. is scheduled to leave Afghanistan by 2014. The average serving age of active military personnel has increased to 28 years old. The U.S. Military is also the most diverse in history, with more women, minorities, and homosexual members being allowed to serve.
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What do we learn?
As time has progressed, the active serving age has increased by 8-9 years. I believe this is because more and more families can afford to send their children to college, enabling them to first receive an education and then decide to serve in the military. Many officers in the military have college degrees these days. There is no hatred for our military, as is often hinted at in popular culture, but actually the numbers have swelled since the 1980's. This may be due to the increase of spending, but the large number of enlisted people shows that people do care about joining the military. Remember, there is no active draft, all the members of the service were not forced to join. Will this trend of large numbers continue? Recently the government has announced large spending cuts, but there have been many recent developments in other Middle Eastern countries such as Libya, Egypt, and Syria. Perhaps someday we will be called to serve there.
Sources:
"Military Service, Chapter 12" US Census Bureau, 2000