I heard on our local television station the other day that Oklahoma led the nation in Army recruits per capita in the eligible age range. Arkansas came in second.

The Kerry crowd probably would point out that we poor Okies and Arkies have limited opportunites and poor quality education which limits our options so that more of our young folks join the military out of desperation.

Let me offer another explanation. (more below)

First, both states have a general culture that supports the military. Our local radio station presented the recruiting news as a positive thing, a matter of local pride. Our attitudes are shaped in part by the cultures in which we grow up. While we are not all from Muskogee,
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street
Cause we like livin' right, and beein' free. Our young people grow up in a culture that supports decisions to join the military. I am sure that Arkansas is the same.

Second, we are not as prosperous as some states. While this may sound like a "John Kerry" explanation, I do not mean it that way. Pete Carrill, the legendary basketball coach at Princeton University, said that he had trouble recruiting the kind of kids he wanted because he had too many potential students from upscale suburbs. He was not talking race. He said that he took it as a good sign when he saw a house that had the garage converted into a bedroom, or when a potential player had had to share a bedroom. He wanted kids who would work hard, follow his rules, and play like he coached them. Kids who were hungry to win. He found that growing up in affluence did not help create the kind of players he wanted. We are talking character here. Growing up in a situation in which everything you could ever want is given to you does not produce good character. It is apt to make you believe that you are the center of the universe and entitled to comfort. Moving from a well decorated room with television, computer, that has never been shared with a kid brother, moving from a life of having your own cell-phone, credit care, and late-model car, to an Army barracks where you are expected to get up early, conform to discipline, and exert yourself, may just be too radical a move for affluent children.

I'm reminded of when my older son finished basic training and we attended his graduation. (We were living in small-town rural Texas at the time.) Aftet the ceremony the non-commissioned officer in charge of his group made the rounds of the parents, shaking hands and commending the new graduates. He told us that "Texas boys" generally did well. Same thing, I think.