This is a really interesting article from the LA Times about the demographic makeup of the military.
The last few lines are especially interesting.
Rosa Brooks: Was Kerry right? - Los Angeles Times
It really brings to mind a huge question, “How have things gotten so fucked up?” Just go back five years to September 15, 2001. We’d had a horrible attack on our country, but we were united and the world was united with us. Even the French were proclaiming “We are all Americans.” In the five years since we’ve managed to divide the world, bring down the British government, become entrenched in a foreign civil war, and divide our own country. What are the history books going to say about the 2000s? I’m sure that it will be damning.