Facing South: “Since the U.S. ended the draft in 1973, young adults from Southern states* have been overrepresented among new military recruits. In fact, the region has been in a league of its own in terms of military recruitment since the late 20th century, with no other region experiencing as wide a disparity in military representation. …According to fiscal year 2017 data, the most recent available, the South’s share of the U.S. young adult population was 33 percent, but it provided 41 percent of new military enlistees nationwide. As a result, the region’s representation ratio is 1.2, which means it provided 20 percent more military recruits than might be expected given its young adult population….
It’s a very different story for South Carolina, whose contribution of new military recruits outweighs its share of the U.S. young adult population by more than 50 percent. Only four Southern states have a representation ratio of less than 1: Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia. Florida’s and Georgia’s contribution of military recruits exceeds their share of the young adult population by 30 percent, putting them among the five states most overrepresented among new recruits….
Explaining the disparities
There have been efforts to understand why the South is so disproportionately represented among U.S. military recruits.
A 2018 study by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), which provides the U.S. government with research, looked at variables that could help predict how much of a state’s young adult population would enlist in the military. Among the variables it analyzed was how a census region’s young adult unemployment rate would affect its military enlistments. But for the South, the unemployment rate had the least impact on military recruitment numbers among all of the regions.
The IDA found a factor with a strong impact on military recruitment: the concentration of veterans in a given area. Per the study, veteran presence can translate to a parent, mentor, or coach who served influencing a young adult’s choice to enlist.””