intro

PERCEPTIONS OF THE U.S. MILITARY

Rationale and Hypotheses

In order to measure perceptions, four research questions will be used to guide the production of surveys and to analyze the results of the surveys.
For the first time in 25 years, three of four services missed recruiting goals. Only the Marine Corps, our nation’s smallest service at 175,000 personnel, maintained its retention needs. Surveys show that young people in the United States do not have strong feelings toward service in the military and question how the military is used around the world. These perceptions, if true, would make it very difficult to recruit this age group into military service. To define the perceptions of young people in the 18-24 year-old age group, and the things that would attract this group into military service, research questions No. 1 and No. 2 will be used:

1. What are the attitudes of 18-24 year-old people toward service in the U.S. military?
2.   What would entice young people to enlist in the U.S. military?
      Fueling young people's perceptions are those of the general society. Research has shown that young people today are typically a generation removed from military service in their family histories. General Peter Sutton, commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, said that fewer than 6% of Americans under age 65 have served in the military (Galloway, Strobel, & Tharp, 1999). This leads to the idea that the military and society are no longer strongly linked. Research questions No. 3 and No. 4 will be used to study this issue:
3.   What is society's view of the U.S. military?
4.    Is the U.S. military still a part of society in the United States?