Inequality and the military

Has broadening inequality actually been a boon for military recruiting? An article I came across from a few years back discussing the troubles the US Army was having in filling their recruiting pipeline got me thinking about military recruiting all the way back to the Vietnam War. Of course, back then we had the draft so unless your name was George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, you needed a damned good excuse not to serve if your draft number was called.

Since the end of Vietnam, the US military has become an all volunteer force. A concurrent trend that began around the same time is the furthering of income and wealth inequality to levels that resemble Gilded Age America. My question is about the opportunities for the folks in those bottom quintiles of the income distribution: Has this loss in relative, and in many cases absolute purchasing power limited the ability to purchase the human capital levels that would lead to some degree of social mobility? If so, has the military as a career choice gained numbers at a far greater pace than otherwise would have been possible with late 1960's levels of equality?