Please Answer This Poll!!

[Robyn]

My father was 4F.  My 3 uncles were in the army in WWII but too late to see action.

In three weeks, I will turn 71 and complete 52 years either in (24, including the Naval Academy years) or as a contractor (28) supporting the Navy.  Tomorrow morning, I will drive to the office in Virginia and work on common assessment procedures for submarines, surface ships and aircraft carriers, as well as specifications for a new big deck amphib, and a new management manual for Reliability Centered Maintenance.  Keeps me young and helps with retirement.

Robyn

[NicholeW.]

Yes, WWII. But, it looks like the balance is going to "No."

[Shana A]

My dad served a 2 year term in Korea. I believe he worked as an engineer in the service, radios, etc, not in combat. Then he went to collge on the GI Bill. I don't know about my grandparents.

Z

[tinkerbell]

Yes he did.  His military career started in the Navy in SA, but as I said on a different thread.  He's a Saint, not your typical macho, loud military person.


tink

[Kate Thomas]

yes WWII
me and a buddy went to sign up for the draft but were told prez ford had cut it.

[Suzy]

Just out of curiosity, where is this going?

BTW, both grandfathers, two uncles and a brother all do, but not dad.  Guess that doesn't count.

Kristi

[Osiris]

Yes both of my parents have military experience. They met in basic training. Awwww.

[sd]

My father, no way in hell was he going military, he avoided it like the plague.

My grandfather (dad's side) was a drill instructor for the Marines during Vietnam (he went the full 20 to retire). He was the reason my dad would not. They did not exactly get along.


However, I was Air Force (just under 5 years).
My other grandfather (mom's side) was 4F and could not join, but would have for WW2.
My uncle (mom's side) tried Marines but was tossed out just after basic. His brother, may have also but I am not sure. If he did, he went a full 4 years.

[Autumn]

I think the link would be 'absent father figure' rather than 'military.'

Since, you know, being deployed rather removes you from your child's life.

My father's a scientist who i can't really call having been a father figure. We'd play around when I was a kid and something would go wrong and I'd get upset or frustrated and he'd get frustrated and back off.

Of course, he's an immaculate father figure when it comes to endlessly providing for his family. I can't express how much I respect his putting up with my mother and myself and how much I recognize that my life is as good as it is solely because of him.

[Chaunte]

My dad was a physician in the Army reserves.  Held the rank of major.  He left teh military back in the 70's.

I was a member of the Civil Air Patrol (US Air Force Auxilery).  Captain.  I would still be in if the closest squadron wasn't 45 minutes one way!

Chaunte

[Alyssa M.]

These threads always seem to result in a "gee, what a representative cross section of society we are" feeling for me.

[MeghanAndrews]

I have no idea where this post is going, lol. I'm really good at starting posts but letting them go on and on without guiding them in the right direction. Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to prove a point or anything, just an observation someone I knew made so I figured I'd see if it was accurate or not 

[feliciahawthorn]

Yes he served in the army.

[Janet_Girl]

My Dad served during WWII in the Army.  No one else has had any service,  I am 4F because of back trouble.

[Wing Walker]

Perhaps a better question for the poll would be "Did your father make a career of the military?" 

Serving in the military influences all who have done it, some more so than others.  The four years that I served in the Coast Guard served me well.  A friend of mine retired from the Navy as a chief petty officer and he and his wife have three children.  He tells me that his home is run like the military.  There is a definite schedule for waking, baths, meals, and lights out.  He and his like it that way.

I have no idea if any of his kids are showing TS tendencies.

Wing Walker

[feliciahawthorn]

Here's my two cents worth. I found this to be a very interesting topic so I looked up some statistics online and played around with some possibilities.

From this survey, it appears that approximately 40% of those who responded had fathers in the military while 60% did not have fathers in the military. Is this 40% a greater percentage than would be expected in the population at large?

For sake of simplicity, even if we assume that all who responded are US citizens (probably not true) and that this is an unbiased sample (maybe not true), this is not an easy question to answer.

The weighted average of Total United States Military Recruits: Army, Navy, Air Force (per capita) is 1 per 2,000 people (or about .05% of the population). Males make up about 80% of the military. So males in the military make up about .04% of the US population.

To examine just the fathers eligible to serve in the military, we would have to rule out about 25% of the US citizens who are under 18 years old and cannot serve, all females over 18 years old - about 38% population, and all the males over 18 who are not fathers - about 17% of the population. So now we are talking about 100% - (25% + 38% + 17%) = 20% of the US population are fathers who could potentially serve in the military.

While males in the military make up about .04% of the population, it is likely that about 5x's that many fathers are military fathers. So about .02% of all fathers are military fathers. If this is correct, then the 40% found here is considerably larger than the .02% expected in the population at large.

[Lisbeth]

My father was in the army during WWII, but he kind of got a reputation as a trouble-maker.  He was a corporal, but got busted back to private after an incident when he was stationed in Madison, Wisconsin.  There was a 90-day Wonder that was particularly hated by the men in his platoon.  This type tended to be picky about being saluted, whereas the carreer officers were not.  So one day when all of his men had to drag themselves to attention, my father gave a command under his breath, "All together, but not too loud."  They all ended their salute with the words, "F*** you!"  I understand the officer was livid.

While males in the military make up about .04% of the population, it is likely that about 5x's that many fathers are military fathers. So about .02% of all fathers are military fathers. If this is correct, then the 40% found here is considerably larger than the .02% expected in the population at large.

The problem with your analysis is you need to find the percentage of people who have fathers who were ever in the military, not who are in the military now.

[sd]

Here's my two cents worth. I found this to be a very interesting topic so I looked up some statistics online and played around with some possibilities.

From this survey, it appears that approximately 40% of those who responded had fathers in the military while 60% did not have fathers in the military. Is this 40% a greater percentage than would be expected in the population at large?

For sake of simplicity, even if we assume that all who responded are US citizens (probably not true) and that this is an unbiased sample (maybe not true), this is not an easy question to answer.

The weighted average of Total United States Military Recruits: Army, Navy, Air Force (per capita) is 1 per 2,000 people (or about .05% of the population). Males make up about 80% of the military. So males in the military make up about .04% of the US population.

To examine just the fathers eligible to serve in the military, we would have to rule out about 25% of the US citizens who are under 18 years old and cannot serve, all females over 18 years old - about 38% population, and all the males over 18 who are not fathers - about 17% of the population. So now we are talking about 100% - (25% + 38% + 17%) = 20% of the US population are fathers who could potentially serve in the military.

While males in the military make up about .04% of the population, it is likely that about 5x's that many fathers are military fathers. So about .02% of all fathers are military fathers. If this is correct, then the 40% found here is considerably larger than the .02% expected in the population at large.

Considering there are more per capita LGBT in the military than the general population as well (many trying to "fix" themselves), there is probably more about our parents than we are aware of. I don't remember the actual stats on the percentage, or where I saw, it but it is much higher.

[Just Mandy]

Yes.

[Ms.Behavin]

Hum...Both my parents served in the Air force. 

Beni