Military Careers

According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80% of the careers in the United Sates Armed Forces are non-combat, which only leaves 20% of the careers in the Armed Forces to fulfill combat affiliated roles. With roughly 2.6 million people in the United States military, that leaves approximately 520,000 people in combat-affiliated roles (Henderson & Dolphin, 2007). The five branches of the United States Military are Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines. Each branch of the military has specific jobs, specialties, and responsibilities that work in conjunction with each other to ensure the safety of the United States of America. Different careers within each branch of the military serve a tremendous purpose, but places an enormous

Suicide is an ongoing problem in the United States Military, as it is the leading cause of death among military personnel over the past decade and a half (Bryan, McNaughton-Cassill, & Osman, 2013). Suicidal rates of some careers in the Armed Forces has negatively skewed many of the perceptions of the military and war in college students. Skewed perceptions often times influences the propensity and motivators for college students to enlist in the United States Armed Forces.

Motivators to Enlist While various attitudes towards war can adversely impact motivators to enlist in the Armed Forces, motivators to join can potentially outweigh the negative attitudes towards war. Individuals who expressed a high propensity to serve had an enlistment rate 24% higher compared to individuals who expressed a negative enlistment intention (Woodruff, Kelty, & Segal, 2006).

Being deployed does not mean that one will be in a combat zone, deployment is being sent to fulfill a duty assignment. It is hypothesized that preconceptions of war are the main factors in college students determining their enlistment choice in the Armed Forces. Stevenson, Roscoe, and Kennedy (1988) concluded that the three dominant sources of information pertaining to war are teachers, books and newspapers, and television. These sources, especially television, can portray deceiving messages about war and the military. Television messages can be deceiving because it will only show certain aspects of war, and what the media believes is the most interesting to viewers. Franke (2001), found that 92% of senior cadets at West Point Academy view war as the military’s main purpose. Socioeconomic Status is a minor factor in determining one’s attitudes towards the war. The higher the socioeconomic status of an individual the more supportive one is of international interventionism (e.g. war) (Leal, 2005). Race is another factor that has a small impact on an individual’s attitude towards war. African-American Cadets along with other minority groups, are less supportive of war than Caucasians (Ender, Rohall, & Matthews, 2015). Furthermore, the study found that 51% of African-American civilians sampled support war, compared to