We know that soldiers from rural America are dying at higher rates than those from urban America, strikingly
higher, 60 percent higher. We know, from other research, that the rural young join the military at higher rates than those from metropolitan areas. The dearth of opportunity in rural areas simply leaves more young people there with fewer alternatives to the military.

Is this good or bad? You tell me what you think.

Its because thoes from a rural areas are more patriotic than thoes from an urban area! Rural areas such as the one that i am from back our country and the war 100%. I guess you can call it the outlook of the harder working people of america!

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"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." Ronald Reagan http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/war...bout-iraq.html

I personally don't think that it is a derth of opportunities. I think that rural America has a different moral mindset. They have different ideals, and considerations on what their obligation is to their nation.

I would tend to agree with you. I just have one thing that troubles me. If someone joins the military for lack of a better choice, if you will, is he or she in the right mind-set to defend America?

They tend not to go in to the infantry/combat arms jobs. they use the military for the gi bill and they never get put in harms way because they join under a non combat arms MOS.

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"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." Ronald Reagan http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/war...bout-iraq.html

I think that this would depend on the mind-set that they choose to have in the end. For instance, Audie Murphy chose to enlist because he truly had no other options. He became a true American Hero.

In todays society, I find it hard to believe that someone would not have other choices. We are a truly mobile society, and the youth of today has many, many more options than they did say 40 years ago.

Dozens of case studies show that opportunities are moving away, part of a long-term shift. The opportunity differential
between rural and urban America is probably higher now than in any time in the past. The study highlights the price some young folks and their families are paying for lack of opportunitiy in rural America.

I would like to see someone who joined a combat arms job in the military because they had no other option.

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"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." Ronald Reagan http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/war...bout-iraq.html

I'm not arguing with you here. I do believe that the opportunities are moving toward more urban areas. Smaller towns are dying, smaller, family owned farms are becoming fewer and fewer. But this is exactly what I meant by mobility. More of our rural youth are going to college, vo-tech, trade schools, and are taking their educations to more urban areas. It is not that they don't have the same opportunities as urban youth, they are just choosing to move away from rural areas.

For example: There is a desparate need (opportunity) for medical personnel in rural areas. However, the money and prestige is better in urban areas, ergo they follow the money.

Given that we have an all- volunteer- military( so that not even the threat of a draft touches other young Americans), you could certainly say that the President's war in Iraq- - - and it;s harm- - - has been disproportionately felt. If you live in a rural area, you are simply far more likely to know a casualty of the war than in most major metropolitian ares in the country. There is still a great number of our young who aren't searching for the bright light of metropolitian, if you will, (stay close to mom and dad ) and only enlist when it's a no other choice scenario.