The Natural Truth About Our Soldiers

Despite what John Kerry and Charlie Rangel want you to believe, the truth is our soldiers are better educated and come from more affluent homes than the average American.

Some facts:

• The high school graduation rate of 2005 military recruits, 96.72, is higher than the rate for the general population, 79.8 percent.
• The mean reading level of 2004 recruits is a full grade level higher than that of the comparable youth population.
• The percent of recruits who scored in the top percentile of the Armed Forces Qualifying Test, the standardized test administered to determine eligibility for service, rose from 5.63 percent in 2003 to 6.43 percent in 2005.
• In 2004, 92.1 percent of those who became active-duty officers held a baccalaureate degree or higher.
• From 2000 to 2005, between 35 percent and 45 percent of active-duty officers held advanced degrees.
• As for income levels of recruits, the percentage from the poorest U.S. neighborhoods, with one-fifth of the population, declined from 18 percent in 1999 to 13.7 in 2005.
• The median household income of recruits in 2005 was higher than in 1999 and higher than the national median, indicating that more recent recruits "come from even wealthier areas than their peers” who enlisted in 1999.